Uncharted: Drake Reborn
by The Alpha Gray Wolf
Summary: It has been six years since Cassie has found out who her parents really were. Her friend and herself embark on a quest. In Europe, lies a powerful mythical substance and an infamous arms dealer will stop at nothing to obtain it and sell it to the highest bidder. Cassie and Derek must find the substance before the villain does and save the world.
1. Prologue

_**Author's Note**_

 _ **Hello Everyone, this is literally my very first fanfic. I am nervous and excited. I hope you guys enjoy. So basically, this Uncharted story takes place literally one second after Uncharted 4. Once Elena puts the photo back in the book in the epilogue and the screen turns to black, this story starts. I hope you guys enjoy. I am going to make this just like the Uncharted games.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: All credits go to the rightful owners. I only own the stuff that I made up.**_

* * *

 _ **Cassie Drake: The Daughter of Nathan Drake and amateur archaeologist.**_

 _ **Derek Lowell: Cassie's best friend and sidekick are just as smart but much more observant.**_

 _ **Keenan Rowan: A villainous arms dealer who is interested in nothing but money.**_

 _ **Damian O'Brien: Rowan's right-hand man and most sadistic goon.**_

 _ **Gail Murphy: Rowan's secretary and top archaeologist.**_

 _ **Jack Walsh-: Rowan's sergeant, who also has a connection to Damian O'Brien.**_

* * *

 _ **Extended summary**_

 _ **It's been six years since she found out that her parents were thieves, fortune hunters and globetrotters. After barely surviving a life-threatening situation in Mesa Verde, Cassie Drake and Derek Lowell are in for a real adventure. In European folklore, there talks about a magical substance that can repel several different supernatural creatures, but can also summon them. Cassie and Derek travel all across Bosnia to search for the Cold iron, but they are definitely not alone in the search. An international black market arms dealer is willing to lay down the lives of his men, and the lives of innocent to claim the Cold iron and sell it to the highest bidder. Can Cassie and Derek find it before the psychopath does.**_

* * *

 _Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them._

 _William Shakespeare_

Cassie smiled. Her father just concluded his El Dorado adventure. She glances over her shoulder and spots her mother coming out of the house. She turns her attention back to her father, who was holding the crate of food and preparing to load it into the boat. Cassie hoped she never stopped hearing her father's adventures. _They are cool._

Nate was now talking about his Shambhala adventure. Once they were out in the sea, the storytelling continued. Nate was now talking about his Iram of the Pillars adventure.

"Wait, how did you survive falling out of an airplane?" Cassie asked with curiosity.

"Well…" Nate began. "After I was sucked out of that plane, I managed to collide with a crate with a parachute attached to it. I managed to deploy the parachute and landed in the middle of the Rub al' Khali desert. Where I spent a few days with no food or water in the intense heat."

Cassie inhaled a deep breath and gazed at the sea just as Nate continued. She half-listened. She was thinking of her own destiny. She had been raised by the best parents in the world and the fact that they were fortune hunters was just icing on the cake. Cassie took a deep breath and exhaled deeply.

 _Am I truly meant for something in this world,_ Cassie thought, _was I destined for greatness?_ Cassie felt the truly nice breeze hit her face. The wind felt warm, but when she stared at the open sea, she knew the answer to her question. Someone like her was meant for destiny. Cassie looks **back** and sees her father driving the boat, so she went to go sit by her mother. She told about their Libertalia adventure.

"I got to tell Derek about this," Cassie said happily to her mother.

"I'm sure you will anyway," Elena said.

Cassie pulled out her phone from her back pocket and punched in several numbers. She waits for an answer while listening to some kind of wait music. She didn't mind, she was filled with so much anticipation, that she thought her heart was going to explode in her chest.

"Hello," a voice said.

"D-MAN!" Cassie said into the phone in a high pitched voice that made her blush in front of her parents. She lowers her tone. "D-Man, you are not going to believe this!" she said excitedly. She began telling Derek everything about her parents' adventures.

"Awesome," Derek said.

"I know right Derek. I've been raised by the best parents and to find out they were fortune hunters, the icing on the cake," Cassie says.

After a long conversation on what the two should do in their future, Cassie concluded with hanging up her phone. She still felt the adrenaline rush in her.

Derek was the name of her best friend, who was basically her male equivalent. They met each other five years ago on the first day of fourth grade. Whenever Cassie's parents brought Cassie on their adventures, Derek would always tag along and hang out with Cassie. They were like some kind of inseparable duo, and everyone knows the last thing you want to do to an inseparable duo is trying to separate them.

 _Is Derek also meant for greatness, most likely?_ Cassie put a hand to her chest, still feeling the adrenaline. Then, she instantly remembers a William Shakespeare quote. ' _Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.'_ So, Cassie was either born into greatness, going to achieve greatness, or perhaps greatness was going to find her. Either way, Cassie knew what she wanted to do with her life. She was going to be a full-time treasure hunter just like her parents. She got up from her seat and began pacing.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Elena asked.

"Oh, I am thinking. What are some of the most exotic places in the world I could visit?" Cassie answered. "I could go there and go looking for a mythical artifact." The adrenaline rush was starting to disappear. "Brazil, the Lost City of Z has never been found, or the Noah's Ark in Turkey." She snaps her fingers. "What about the Staff of Moses?" She began spitballing all kinds of lost cities and artifacts from all over the globe.

"Cassie, calm down," Elena told. Cassie stopped pacing and glanced at her mother.

"Okay, I'm calm, and I can feel the adrenaline starting to slow down," Cassie said in between deep breaths.

Nate had come out and faced Cassie and Elena.

Elena stood up and put her arm on Cassie's shoulder. "Cassie, you are truly meant for something in this world. These stories we have just told you aren't stories, they actually happened."

"Yep, they sure did," Nate replied casually.

"I know you're excited," Elena said in a calming voice.

"Am I truly meant for greatness in this world. Was I destined for this life?" Cassie asks both her parents.

"Well, you are going to have to find out," Elena told.

"Who knows, maybe you are destined for greatness in this world. Most likely you are. A ninety-nine point nine percent," Nate kissed Cassie's forehead.

Cassie began thinking of what both of her parents said. She just stared at the floor. _Will I find destiny or will destiny find me?_ Cassie spoke her mind. "Will I find destiny or will destiny find me?" She has always been one to speak her mind freely.

"Well, we are going to have to find out," Nate answers. "It might take years for your destiny, Cassie."

Cassie nods with a smile. "I can wait, even though I'm going to have to. I know I will. Wait a second, you guys are tricking me. You guys just told me about all the dangers you've faced on your adventures. There's no way you would be that on board with me being a treasure hunter. I know you guys are BS-ing me. Sorry for the foul language though. You don't want me to be an adventurer because you're afraid that I might die. You're just sugar coating me so I won't be upset. One way or another...mother and father...I will be pursuing my dream and globe-trotting; whether you want me to or not."

* * *

 **If you want to see an Uncharted adaption of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," vote on my profile page.**


	2. Mesa Verde

Six years later

July 2035

Mesa Verde, Colorado

Cassie climbed the mountain with no safety equipment. She felt no adrenaline rush through her, which was good because she had to remain as calm as possible while climbing a tall mountain. Reaching for another handhold, she yanks herself up with one hand to the top. Thrusting her foot on a foothold, she reached the top and pulled herself up.

Now at the top of a mountain, she decides to gaze at the view. Mesa Verde national park was absolutely beautiful. She was amazed by the scenery. She looks down and see Derek. She bends over to lend him a hand.

"Need a hand partner?" She asks in a cowgirl voice.

"Yeah." Derek answers in a cowboy voice. He grips Cassie's hand and she yanks him up. "Thank you parner." Derek said. He turns to look at the view. _Amazing._

"I know, I can see my house from here." Cassie says. She reaches into her back pocket. What she had pulled out was a map. A map of Mesa Verde. In the center, ruins were circled in red. That was their destination. She shows Derek before putting the map in her back pocket.

"Okay then, let's get a move on." Cassie told, leading the way across the mountain.

"Lay on, Macduff." Derek says, following.

* * *

At a distance, Cassie and Derek were being observed by somebody. He watched them through a pair of binoculars.

"I have both targets in my sight." Was all the person said.

* * *

Cassie waited for Derek, stopping to sit on a log. Derek had tripped on a rock and landed on his stomach, while his crotch landed on a rock. Right now, he was taking a leak.

While she was waiting, she had an idea of whipping out her phone and taking a picture of the view while it was still beautiful. She looked at the picture. It was one for the books.

When she looked up from her phone, Derek stood there, with his curly brown hair, hazel brown-eyes, fair skin and five o'clock shadow. He had an athletic built, six-foot-one, and was at the age of twenty-one, being several months older than Cassie. He currently wore a blue henny shirt and jeans and had a gun holster at his armpit.

Cassie had gotten rid of her glasses and now had contact lenses. Her wavy and dirty blonde hair still reached her neck and she still had fair skin and hazel-green eyes. She was now five-foot-nine and twenty-one years old. She wore a white henny with and had khaki pants on. Like Derek, she wore sneakers.

"You ready to go now?" Derek asks.

"Yep, let's go retrieve the artifact." Cassie puts away her phone and stands up. She looks around her environment to see if she could remember the path she was taking. "Follow me Derek Lowell."

"Lead on Cassie Drake." Derek follows Cassie. They began jogging through a rocky trail. They were so close to their objective.

Cassie and Derek were in Mesa Verde because the local natives hired them to retrieve an idol hidden somewhere in the mountain. They provided them with a map and told them to be careful as they would be walking into unknown territory, which is widely believed to be cursed as to why nobody goes up there.

"So, Cassie, the local natives really believe this place to be cursed?" Derek asks while following her.

"Yeah, according to the natives, a lot of people have come into this mountain and none have come out." Cassie answers.

"Oh, they are afraid to come up here, but they have no problem with hiring two people barely old enough to drink to get the job done?" Derek asked. He was actually insulted that the local natives would be alright with sending both Cassie and himself to their possible deaths.

"Look, the locals natives said that they believe people are cursed because this certain artifact has failed to have been destroyed. So the natives want us to find the artifact and destroy it." Cassie explains.

"We destroy the artifact." Derek repeats.

"We sure do Derek." Cassie nods. She jumps over a fallen tree. She stops in her tracks. She points to something hidden in the trees. It was a falling branch.

"Destroying an artifact. Okay then, what did they say this artifact looks like?"

"The locals said it looks like a skull, but made of gold. Has silver teeth and about the size of...skull." Cassie detailed.

"Gold skull about the size of a skull and has silver teeth, thank you." Derek says, partially sarcastically.

"Don't mention it." Cassie says. She continues jogging through the tree environment. While following close behind, Derek was staring at Cassie's rear end. It looked pretty.

Cassie had a feeling that Derek was looking at her rear end, but it didn't matter, she had done the same to some guys while in high school. People staring at her actually made her feel attractive. But too much staring would just come off as creepy.

Cassie stopped jogging when she came to an edge. She chances looking down. _Boy we are high above the ground?_ Cassie whistles. "Boy, we are high above the ground." A jump from this height would be fatal.

"Man oh man. We have to be at least a couple thousand feet in the air." Derek says. He looks around the ground to see if he could find anything. He picks up a large rock and holds it out. He opens his palm and the rock falls six thousand feet. Both wait to see if they could hear anything, but nothing.

Cassie looked up at the clouds. They were moving really fast, and began blocking off the sun, leaving them in a more grayish environment. "Just stay calm D-Man."

"I am calm!" Derek shouted.

"Okay then, well, let's see if we can shimmy across this narrow gap." Cassie suggested. She puts her back to the wall and moves very carefully across the narrow gap, with Derek following just inches behind. Derek looked down. A rock at his feet was kicked off and it disappeared as it fell to the ground.

"Move slow and watch your step." Cassie said in a reassuring voice.

"Excuse me Daughter of Nathan Drake, I have been doing this just as long as you have been." Derek remarks.

"Then you do not need any comfort or reassurance." Cassie says. Her chuckling came to an end when the narrow walkway came to an end. She looked all over the wall for any handholds, but found none. "What do we do now?" Cassie asked herself.

Derek spots a handhand just a few feet above him. He reaches out to try and grasp it, but he was too short. "Cassie, do you want a boost?"

Cassie shrugs. "I don't know. Is that what you will say when we sleep together?" Cassie laughs. They have never actually slept together, although them sleeping together is somewhat a pipedream to her.

Cassie nods and Derek crouches down while staying very close to the wall. Cassie was very careful to stepping on Derek's shoulder. She didn't want to hurt them or want either of them to go plunging to their deaths.

She grabs the handhold with one hand and puts her other hand on another handhold. Once she pulls herself so she could grab another handhold, she glues her feet to the wall and with one hand, she reaches down. "Let's go Derek."

Derek stood at his full height and grabs Cassie's hand. She struggled to pull him up. He was so massively heavy. She felt like she was lifting a two hundred pound bag of sugar with one hand. She felt her face reddening and her veins began protruding.

"Oh my god, what have you been eating?" She struggles to say to Derek.

"Oreos, day and night." Derek answered sarcastically. He saw that Cassie's eyes were glued shut and her face was red. He was obviously too heavy for her. He quickly grabbed the hanhold and released his grip from Cassie's hand. Her hand and arm, especially her arm, felt painful. She thought her arm was going to be torn off, like some kind of zombie.

"Goddamn that hurt." Cassie says to Derek. She had no idea he weighed that much, that was the first time she actually pulled him up with one hand.

"I am so sorry." Derek apologizes.

"How about you drink milk from now on fatty?" Cassie tells. She turns her attention to the handholds and begins climbing. Hand over hand, foot over foot, she felt like she climbed for a while. But she had only been climbing for thirty seconds.

When Cassie was hanging by one hand, and was almost at the top, she sees something to her right. "Hey Derek, I think I see the ruins."

"Really, you looking in the right place?" Derek asks while below her.

"Are _you_ looking in the right place?" Cassie asks. She knows that he was looking at her pretty rear end again.

Derek jerks his head to the right and saw what Cassie saw. Ruins. "Well, now I am looking in the right place."

"Good, then stop staring at my ass." Cassie told.

Derek was utterly embarrassed. "I am sorry, I didn't mean to."

"It's alright, but I will admit, it makes me feel attracted." Cassie told. She begins climbing across. Derek stole one last quick glance at Cassie butt. He felt adrenaline rush in him, and it was definitely not from the mountain climb.

Derek caught up to her and they both climbed to the right, staying as close to the mountain as possible and reaching for as many handholds as they can. Then, there was a gap. A large gap in the mountain that was about six feet.

"Hey Derek, there's a large gap here, so you might want to watch it." She warns. There was a handhold on the other side of the gap. Plus, she could make the jump. "I'm going for it."

"Be careful." Derek told.

"When am I never?" Cassie asked.

Derek stared at her with a mischievous grin. "That little fiasco in Republic of Congo two years ago." Derek answers.

"That was an accident and you know it." Cassie rebuts.

"Exactly, it was an accident because you didn't pay attention." Derek reminded.

"Shut up D-Man." Cassie takes a deep breath. She catapults herself. She grabs the handhold with her right hand, but slipped. Her life flashed in an instant, she began her plummet to the earth. However, while falling, she manages to grab a handhold that stops her from falling.

She now hangs from one hand, regaining her balance.

"What did I say Cass, not careful." Derek says.

"Yeah yeah." Cassie pulls herself up and begins climbing back up. She waits for Derek to jump across before she continues climbing to her right, this time, she followed Derek.

"Lookie lookie, a branch." Derek points to a branch coming from a large tree that was blocking their path. Although his vision was obscured by the branches, he could barely see a narrow walkway that they could use. He looks at a different angle and saw solid ground.

"Cassie, if we could swing across this, we will be back on solid ground in no time."

"Good, there are no handholds that lead upwards." Cassie says.

Derek reaches for his belt. On his right side, a coiled up grappling hook was hooked to a belt loop. He grabs the front of the rope and tosses it forward. It wraps itself around a large branch. Derek tested it to make sure it was strong enough. He didn't exactly want to plummet to his death anytime soon. He releases his grip on a handhold and goes falling to the earth. He gripped the rope tightly. Once the rope reached its limit, it sung Derek forward.

He swung toward the other side and landed on his feet on solid ground. He quickly untangles his rope and recoils it before putting it to his belt loop.

"Okay Cassie, it's safe! You can swing across!" He shouts. He patiently waits for Cassie to swing across. He saw the rope wrap around the branch and saw Cassie subsequently falling towards the ground before swimming across the branch.

The branch broke off and Cassie went falling. Luckily, she was just several feet above Derek's head, but she fell right on top of him. The rope was still attached to the branch as it fell, and Cassie was being dragged with it. Derek lunges forward and grabs Cassie with one hand just as she was about to fall to her death.

"Don't worry Cassie, I got ya." Derek says, pulling her up with his one hand. "Take back what you said, cause I am all muscle." Derek told once he pulled her to safety.

"Okay, for your sake, I take it back." Cassie says, patting him on the back once she stood up again.

Derek pointed to the ruins. "I think we have reached our destination."

Cassie looked in his direction. "I think we have D-Man. Just a hop, skip and a jump away." Cassie mutters follows Derek.

Just when they had reached another edge, there was a steep hill covered in mud that they could slide down that would take them directly towards the ruins. "Ladies first." Derek nods.

"How sweet of you." Cassie smiles. She sits down at the edge and carefully plants her feet, making sure not to slip on accident. "See you on the _downslide._ " Cassie puns. She slides down. The seat of her jeans were getting all muddy, but it was better than sliding down on dry rock. Once she was at the bottom, she signalled for Derek to slide down.

He carefully plants his feet, he accidently slips. He began rolling on his side, getting mud all over him and throwing him off his equilibrium temporarily. When he reached the bottom, he went crashing right into Cassie's feet. Cassie went falling face first into the ground. She was not seriously injured, just a bruise.

"Ouchie." Derek says.

"Yes, ouch." Cassie says back to Derek. "You almost killed me Derek." She rubs the bruise on her forehead. "Just like in Iceland."

"We would have froze to death." Derek rebuts.

Derek was now using all four of his limbs to regain his stance. Cassie helped him out. Whenever Cassie starred in Derek's beautiful hazel-brown eyes, she felt love. Derek and her have been friends since they were in fourth grade. She never developed feelings for Derek until she was seventeen, but she never admitted. She was afraid of Derek not loving her. That she would push away her best friend. She didn't want that.

"So, are you going to stare at me like I am some kind of exotic animal, or are we going to the ruins?" Derek asks her.

She snaps out of it. "Sorry, let's go." Cassie led the way. The ruins was just a couple of meters away.

The ruined structures looked Paleolithic. "These ruins look like Paleolithic." Cassie speaks. The two building weren't very tall, just maybe ten feet tall each and made of old and rotting wood. It was the sight of something archaeological. They were at their destination, but where was the golden skull.

"We are at our destination, but where is the golden skull?" Cassie asks Derek.

"Who knows, but let's look around, it's either in one of the houses or maybe it's buried." Derek told. "How can a golden skull kill people?"

"That's what I asked. The locals said that some time in the twelfth century, an occultist placed some kind of curse on this greedy man and when he died, his skull turned gold and with that, his spirits roamed the mountains and killed anyone who tried to steal in this mountain. Maybe the people who died were graverobbers." Cassie said.

"Yeah, well that explains a lot." Derek says sarcastically. "So destroy the skull, and we destroy the curse.

"Yep, the usual." Cassie began searching the first house for any sign of the skull. Derek searched the other.

Cassie scoured the whole house, inch by inch to look for the skull, but nothing. She was starting to feel like this whole thing was a wild goose chase.

"Found something." Derek shouted from the building he was in. Cassie quickly rushes over to the house to see what Derek found. She hoped in through the window and saw Derek caressing something.

"This here is a picture of the skull, it was buried in between these two buildings." Derek says before showing her a piece of cloth of the two buildings and the gold skull in between.

"So it is buried out here. Good, once we find it, we destroy it." Cassie escorts Derek outside.

"So um…" Derek stutters. "The skull should be right where we are standing."

They both looked down at the ground at their feet. Their shoes were slightly submerged in mud.

"It has to be underneath the mud. Let's start digging." Cassie commands.

"But with what?"

Cassie takes out the end of her grappling hook, and gestures to the sharp part. "Use the sharp part of the hook." She crouches down and starts digging through the mud. Derek helps her.

The two were covered in mud and the more they dug, the deeper their shoes sank into the ground. They can both feel mud seeping into their shoes from the inside. They felt their socks and they felt moist.

When Cassie stabbed the ground, she heard a clunk noise. "Stop." She tells Derek. She puts the hook to the side and pushes her fingers through the mud. She felt something smooth. She wraps her fingers around the smooth object and yanks it out. She couldn't exactly see what it was cause mud covered it. Derek pulled out his canteen from the back of his belt and poured it on the object. The object was showered in the water and the mud was wiped clean. Neither one could believe their eyes. It was the golden skull.

* * *

Derek Lowell

Born: January 6, 2014

Hair: Brown  
Eye: Hazel-brown

Height: Six-one  
Weight: One-ninety

Relatives: Erica Lowell (Mother), Richard Lowell (Father)

Nationality: American

Biography: Derek Lowell is an only child to Erica Lowell, a former technician for the United States Navy and Richard Lowell, a photojournalist. Derek grew up traveling around the world with his parents where he developed a love for globe trotting and ancient history as his father mostly took him to temples. Derek gained a love for archaeology and painting. The first day of fourth grade was a rough one, but when he met Cassie Drake and learnt about her keen interest and exploring the unexplored, all's well that ends well. As Derek and Cassie grew up, they became inseparable and sharing the same ideas of where to go treasure hunting. Both Cassie and Derek went to University of Hawaii in Maui at the ages of seventeen to major in Archaeology while Derek minored in Art history. Along their adventures, Cassie and Derek encountered numerous adventures involving the supernatural, most notably Easter Island, Mongolia, Iceland and the Bermuda Triangle where they found remains of the actual lost city of Atlantis...and the existence of an actual Megalodon.


	3. Keenan Rowan

"It is so beautiful." Cassie says, brandishing the skull to Derek. It was just as the locals described it. Gold, about the size of a real skull and had silver teeth.

"Yeah it is, let's destroy it now." Derek says with no hint of enthusiasm in his voice.

"Yeah." Cassie was about the put the skull onto the ground, until she heard a familiar sound. It was the sound of a gun being cocked. A pistol specifically. Cassie turns her head around very slowly and looks over her shoulder. She was staring down a barrel. Derek looked in another direction, but he had no gun pointed at him, yet.

Cassie stood up very slowly. Derek did the same. However, he raised his hands above his head to show the gunmen he was serious. Cassie didn't because she was holding the skull in her right hand.

Cassie got a full view of the man pointing a gun at her. He was a rather tall man with bushy eyebrows and a square jaw. He had short, but straight hair that looked jet black. His eyes were brown but they vaguely looked black and had an olive complexion.

"Hello there." He says in an Irish accent.

Derek was now being held at gunpoint. This man also had an olive complexion but had red hair and blue eyes. His head was shaped like a bullet and was several inches shorter than the first man. When this man smiled, he showed a lot of jagged teeth.

"I see you have found what we have been looking for. Your work is much appreciated." The Irish man says. His voice sounded deep, but also threatening.

"This is what you have been looking for, sorry but we found it first, so finders keepers." Cassie says, clutching the skull to her chest like a parent holding their child.

She then felt another gun being pressed into her back. It felt like a more powerful gun like a shotgun or submachine gun. Cassie looks over her shoulder to see what it was and discovered that it was indeed a shotgun.

"Give him the skull, or I will shoot you." The man with the shotgun said, also with an Irish accent. They appeared to be a trio of Irish men, or at least two of them as the one holding Derek had not spoken at all.

Cassie was about to say something until she heard the pump of the shotgun. This man was being very serious.

"Who are you guys? You look familiar." Cassie says.

"My name is Rowan. Keenan Rowan." The man says.

 _James Bond reference._ "Okay then." Cassie says hesitantly. "Keenan Rowan, the international black market arms dealer?"

"That is correct." Rowan says with a smile.

"So if you are Keenan Rowan, then you…" Derek gestures to the man holding him at gunpoint. "...must be his right hand man, Damian O'Brien."

The man nods. "Someone's been doing their homework."

"Yeah, that's why I went to college when I was seventeen." Derek remarks.

"Damian, no agitating the Americans." Rowan ordered.

Damian nods. "Yes sir." He does not take his eyes, nor aim off of Derek.

As if on cue, more gunmen had appeared from behind Cassie. She counted a total of seven of them, plus Rowan and Damian.

"Mr. Rowan, what do you intend to do with this gold skull?" Cassie asks, clutching the skull tighter.

"Simple, to sell it. You find me something, I steal it, I sell it, people buy it, and I get money." Rowan answers with a smile.

"Listen Rowan, if we give you the skull peacefully, then will you let us go?" Cassie asks politely.

"I don't know. I usually don't leave any witnesses." Rowan answers. "But, do you know how much women are on the black market?"

Cassie felt anger seething in her. "How much?"

"Millions of dollars, at least five hundred million." Rowan holsters his gun. He give Cassie a life-or-death stare. Cassie could see no soul in his eyes.

"So, you are going to sell me on the black market?" Cassie felt so much anger that she thought she was going to crush the skull with her bare hands.

"Yes. We will sell you after we kill your little boyfriend over there." Rowan gestures to Derek. Cassie wanted to kill Rowan now. She just threatened to kill Derek at point-blank.

"You don't touch Derek you son of a bitch." Cassie said in an angry voice.

"This cat's got claws sir." The shotgun thug said.

"She sure does, that is what will make her even more valuable." Rowan points to one of his gunmen. "You come here." The gunmen obliges. "What's the policy on women?"

The gunmen took out his phone. He scrolls through a few photos before stopping on one. "No elders, girls must be an adult and if they are in their late twenties to early forties then we sell them for five hundred million dollars. If they are eighteen to twenty-six, then we sell them for eight hundred million dollars."

Rowan looks at Cassie and smiles. His teeth completely yellow. "Get back in line soldier. How old are you girl?"

Cassie refused to answer. The gunman returns to his original position. "You really don't know who I am, do you Rowan?"

He shrugs. "Am I supposed to know?"

"Okay then?" Cassie looks at Derek.

"How old are you?" Rowan demands once more.

Cassie continued to stare at Derek. They both could sense pure rage in Rowan starting to emerge. "We're both twenty-one." Derek answers to hopefully calm down Rowan.

"Twenty-one. That means the girl is more valuable than we thought." Rowan puts his hand to his head. "What to do with you boy."

"Sir, what about the skull?" Damian asks.

"Oh that's right. Jack, the skull please." Rowan orders to the shotgun thug. Jack orders for Cassie to hand it over or else he will shoot Derek.

Cassie hands Jack the skull and Jack places it in his satchel.

"Now, I am starting to wonder if you guys could be of some use to me. You found this skull after all, all we had to do was follow you." Rowan says.

"You're an evil man, you know that Rowan. Why the hell would you sell women?" Cassie confronts.

"Money." Was all Rowan had to say.

"I hope you choke on that money." Cassie mutters loud enough for Rowan to hear.

"I hope people bid billions of dollars on you." Rowan remarks.

"Sir, can I kill this kid now?" Damian asks with eagerness.

"Yes, but no gunshots. Too much suspicion." Rowan orders. "You, girl are coming with us."

Damian already had a plan on how to kill Derek. And it involves a cliff. Rowan, Jack and two others walked away while Damian escorted Derek towards a cliff. Two other gunmen followed Damian because they were eager to see the death of Derek.

"Hey O'Brien, do you know how many times I have been held at gunpoint?" Derek asks. He was beginning to recall all the adventures Cassie and himself went on. Almost all involved them being shot at or being beaten up. "I have survived all encounters. You can't kill me, I'm immortal." Derek says proudly.

Damian remains unconvinced however. He was a sociopathic killer and has killed dozens of people and feels no remorse for any of them. That is the primary reason why Keenan Rowan hired him to be his right hand man. "Do you know how many people I have killed?"

Derek was pushed towards the edge of a cliff. He glances back, hoping to see Cassie. Rowan, Cassie, Jack, and two others were descending down another path of the mountain. "I don't know Damian, how many people have you killed?"

"Forty-eight, and with you makes forty-nine." Damian answers. He forces Derek to look forward just as he holsters his gun. Derek was determined to survive somehow. He feels the adrenaline. It was time to act or forever be dead. He hadn't meant literally immortal, he has experienced the most life threatening situations ever and always managed to come out on the other side. He always finds a way to survive. He was not destined to go out like this. Pushed off a mountain by a villain.

He looks over his shoulder one more time to see if Damian was going to kill him. When he looked back, Damian slapped him in his cheek, it reddens.

"Eyes forward!" Damian orders.

"Hey Damian, you know, how long do you think you have before Rowan executes you?" Derek asks. He smiles at the question. It was used purely to confuse him.

Damian was confused. "What the hell are you rambling about boy?"

"Rowan is obviously a greedy and you are working for a greedy man. If someone promises to pay hm money to kill you, then he will surely not hesitate to kill you."

Damian was not convinced. He pulls out a suppressor from his pocket and screws it onto his pistol. Once it was fully screwed on, Derek decided it was time to strike. He slaps the gun with his elbow, throwing off Damian's aim and he launched his back into Damian. He bumped the back of his head into Damian's forehead, dazing the villain.

Damian went crashing into the two and they both went down, dropping their guns. The first gunman reached for his pistol, but it was kicked away by Derek. He grabs the gunman by the collar of his shirt and aims him towards the cliff. He tosses him off. He gave a long and blood curdling scream, he was falling six thousand feet to his death.

Damian was too disoriented to move, he just lied there on the ground, his nose bleeding badly. The second gunman reaches for his waistband and pulled out another gun. Before he could fire it, Derek kicked it out of his hand and grabbed him by the hair. He forces him to his feet and launches him towards the cliff. His blood curdling scream on the way down lasted slightly longer than the first one.

Derek sighed. Once again, he has killed, and he was not proud of it. "Good riddance you two." He turns back to Damian, he was beginning to lose consciousness. Derek made no attempt to kill him because he was obviously defenseless and killing a defenseless person is considered murder and Derek would never stoop down to that level. He just loots him of his gun and ammo. "Hang on Cassie, I'll save you." He promises. He chases after them.

* * *

While walking down the hill with Rowan and Jack and the other two gunmen, they all stopped along the path. They watched as a person was thrown off the cliff. Must have been Derek was thrown off by Damian.

"Looks like your friend is dead miss." Rowan says to Cassie. He is still unaware of the fact that Cassie Drake is the Daughter of Nathan Drake. It was a good thing he doesn't know cause he might hold her ransom.

Cassie refused to believe Derek was dead. No chance in hell was he dead. "He's not dead, you'll see." Cassie swore.

"Oh, we'll see about that." Rowan says confidently. "Gail!" Rowan turns to the gunman who approached him with the phone. "Call the pilot. Tell him to prepare a hostage chair."

Gail nods with a bow to Rowan. "Yes sir, I will call right now." It looked as if Rowan had at least three sub commanders. Damian was his right hand man, Gail was his secretary and Jack appeared to be a high ranking sergeant.

"What are you thinking of girl?" Rowan asks. Cassie refused to look at Rowan. "Can you tell me your name?" Cassie was not going to give her the satisfaction. She just stares off at the scenery in the distance. She thinks of a lie.

"What is your-"

"Cassie Davis." She lies. "And the boy you killed was Derek Lambert."

"Well Davis, since you are going to be with us for a while, I suggest you show me some respect and give me a positive attitude. And show some respect to the buyers." Rowan threatens.

"Screw you Rowan." She says to him, finally making eye contact with him. "No matter what, you won't be selling me. I am too much of a match for you. I will be out of arm's reach and I will never be sold in human trafficking. The moment you look away, I will kill you."

Something in what she said caused Rowan to give a surprised look. It gave even Jack and the other two gunmen a look of somewhat shock. Then, they heard another scream. They both turned in the direction of the scream, it was coming from the same place that Damian had been instructed to kill Derek. They had heard one death scream, but now they heard a second. It confused all off them. Cassie saw her opening. In a flash, she felt the adrenaline rush and she elbowed Jack in the nose and pushed him backwards. When he hit the ground, he fired the shotgun on reflex and one of the gunmen was shot and a hole blew in his chest. He subsequently fell off the edge. Gail was wounded in the shoulder. Cassie turns back to Rowan. Reaches for his holstered gun, but Cassie kicks him in the chest, knocking him down to the ground and almost off the mountain.

Gail winced in pain and aimed his pistol and Cassie, but due to the pain, he could not aim properly. He had squeezed the trigger, but missed and the bullet went flying into space. Cassie turns back to Jack and sees the shotgun in his hand. She reaches for it and snatches it away. She shoots the wounded Gail in the stomach, badly wounding him.

In the heat of the moment, she smashes the butt of the shotgun into Jack's jaw, knocking him out instantly. She turns back to Rowan. His legs were dangling over the edge and he was hanging onto a handhold so he wouldn't fall off.

Suddenly, behind her, she heard scuffling and in a moment of adrenaline once again, she turns around and aims the shotgun at the source. It was Derek. "Derek man, I am glad you are alive!" She cheers.

"I always survive." Derek says proudly.

The two turn back Rowan. Cassie glances at Derek. "Should we leave him hanging?"

"Definitely." Derek answers without hesitation.

Cassie suddenly remembered the gold skull. "The skull." She turns around to see that Jack was still carrying his satchel. She quickly runs up to it and crouches down to search the satchel. She finds it and she clutches it to her chest. "We still got to destroy it." Cassie says to Derek. He does not glance at Cassie, but he nods. Cassie turned to the edge of the cliff and threw it like a pitcher throwing a baseball. It was thrown so far that is disappeared into the view. Although they did not see it, the gold skull was shattered upon impact, destroying the curse.

"You bastards!" Rowan whispers angrily.

"You are definitely not worth it, y'know that Rowan." Cassie said while Derek and her walk away.

"You better use those guns to kill me or else I will find you!" Rowan swore.

Hearing this, Derek turned back to Rowan and kicked him hard in the face, knocking him out. "Shut the hell up." Derek said to the unconscious Rowan.

"Derek man, let's get out of this place. Let's call the police." Cassie and Derek began walking down the mountain. They made a phone call to the police.

"I can't wait to go back home to Hawaii." Derek says, exhausted. He throws the pistol off the mountain.

"Me neither." Cassie tosses the shotgun off. "Maui, hot shower, hot sandwich, hot sandy beach, here we come."

* * *

 **Keenan Kip Rowan**

 **Born: 1992 (43), Ireland**

 **Hair color: Jet Black**

 **Eye color: Blue**

 **Height: 6'2"**

 **Weight: Two hundred pounds**

 **Relatives: Bella Rowan (Mother), Paul Rowan (Father)**

 **Nationality: Irish**

 **Biography: Keenan Rowan was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1992 to Bella and Paul Rowan. His parents are rumored to have been arms dealers themselves and raised their only son Keenan to be the next arms dealer. He claims that he is in it only for money, which is half the truth and he is in it to make his parents proud. He would do anything to make money and is not above selling women as prostitutes, like how he almost sold Cassie. He does not any moral code however he does show some degree of loyalty to his three commanders and he does not sell children in human trafficking. Despite this, he is still ruthless and sadistic and must be considered a dangerous target as he has enough money to buy all kinds of mercenaries and weapons and he is as persistent as they come.**


	4. Recovery

Three Days Later

Maui, Hawaii

Cassie stood under the spray of the shower. She let the water soak in her hair and washed her face. It had taken a couple of days to wash out all of the blood that was stuck in her hair. No amount of shampoo or conditioner seemed to remove it. But, it soaked out eventually.

Even though she has faced death and survived more times than she could remember, it was still traumatizing for her. She had just killed a man. She knocked Jack back, which caused him to fire upon reflex and kill a thug, but if she didn't, that man would've killed her. It was either him or her. And Cassie was not settled on dying any time soon.

Cassie stared at nothing as the hot water was beginning to seep into her eyes. She blinked, but just stared off into space. She had a sudden flashback. Some years ago, Derek had actually seen Cassie naked and he passed out. It was hilarious, well, for her at least. She suddenly felt the water turning from hot to warm, she decided it was time to get out.

Coming out of the bathroom with soft pajamas on, she walks into her room and hangs up her towel and throws her dirty clothes in a laundry basket. She lies down in bed. It was still early, but she just wanted to sleep.

Who came into the room was none other than her roommate, Derek Lowell. He looked better than Cassie, he didn't have to take showers to wash the blood off cause he had no blood on him. But like Cassie, he was thinking of when he shoved those two gunmen off the cliff and to their deaths. But like with Cassie's case, it was either them or him. He also thought about the other people he had killed in the past.

"Hey Cassie, how are you feeling?" Derek asks Cassie with concern.

"I just took a shower to calm down. I'm so tired." Cassie answers.

"You're tired? It's a quarter to five." Derek said in a voice of confusion.

Cassie didn't really want to walk around the halls of the University of Hawaii Maui. She didn't come to party at college. She went because as of 2029, it's the best school for archeology and she studied to be an archaeologists, same for Derek.

"Are you hungry, thirsty? I will be happy to bring you whatever you want." Derek told.

"No, I just want some privacy. But can you get me some water?" Cassie asks.

"No problem, done." Derek says with a smile. "Anything else you need and I will be happy to get it."

"No, just water will do." Cassie says, sure of herself. She closed her eyes for a brief second and Derek was no longer there and the door to her college dorm was shut. She gazed out at the window. The sunset was beautiful. It was peaceful. Sometimes, after adventures, she would suffer from panic attacks and her way of coping with it is to look at the sunset, or sunrise, or even a painting of picture of the sunset or sunrise.

She felt like sleeping the night through. She just shut her eyes and drifted off. She was awaken by someone shaking her. She slowly opens her eyes. Derek was above her, holding a glass of water for her.

"As you requested Your Majesty, water. Not fountain water, but fresh and purified water." Derek says in a British accent.

Cassie sits up and accepts the glass of water. She sips it slowly, which evolves into huge gulps. Derek actually carefully removes the glass of water from her lips. "Cassie, are you trying to kill yourself? Take sips."

Cassie nods and takes slow sips of water.

"PTSD?" Derek guessed to Cassie's problem. She nods.

"I've been shaky every since I shoot Gail and indirectly killing that other guy. I can still see flashes in my head." She begins. "Did I kill Gail or just wound him, I was unable to confirm?"

"I don't know, but hopefully, he was arrested." Derek says optimistically.

Cassie mutters something. She was once again having flashbacks of all the people she killed. She was never going to get used to this killing. "What time is it?"

"Six o'clock." Derek answers.

"I was asleep for an hour and a half." Cassie says groggily.

"Six o'clock, AM." Derek repeated.

She jumps up from her bed and looks at her alarm clock on the side table. It was six o'clock in the morning. "Derek, why didn't you wake me up?"

"When I came into the room last night, I saw you were asleep, so I let you sleep." Derek explains.

"Oh crap." Cassie cups her face into her hands. "Oh crap. I forgot to submit in an essay for Professor Harvey."

"Done it." Derek says. "While you were asleep, I looked through your bag to see if I could find anything. I found your essay and I turned it in for Prof. Harvey."

"Why were you in my backpack?"

"I wanted some gum."

Cassie gets out of bed. She begins undressing out of her pajamas and into a pair of jeans and a white henny.

Derek saw her completely naked back. He looked down from her back to her feet. She was beautiful. He felt the adrenaline once more, and once again, like the last time Derek saw Cassie naked, he passes out on her bed.

Cassie chuckled. "It never gets old." Now that she was fully dressed, she turns to Derek, who was lying on his back. "My turn to wake you up." She swatts him in the knee. He awoken instantly. "Wakey wakey your hand is looking shaky." She giggles.

"Can it. Did I pass out once again?" Derek asks, groggy.

"Yep, and it is still hilarious. Like in Iceland. You saw me fully completely naked and you fainted. I undressed in front of you intentionally." Cassie is still giggling.

"Why?"

"So I can laugh at your expense." Cassie answers truthfully. As of now, she was completely comfortable with getting naked in front of Derek, as long as he passed out. "I'm going to go get some coffee, you coming?" She puts on a sweatshirt.

"Sure thing." Derek gets up and follows Cassie out the dorm.

They walked around the college campus after they got their coffee from a stand. Cassie was taking slow sips, especially since her coffee was hot and steaming up. Not even the two spoons of creamer could cool it down.

Derek took a long sip before swallowing. Not one had spoken about Mesa Verde or any of their other traumatic adventures. He knows what they needed to take their minds off of everything, a vacation to somewhere exotic and tropical. It was his and Cassie's way of dealing with death, by going on vacation. They had nowhere to be at school.

"So, where do you want to go?"

Cassie turns in Derek's direction. She stared off into space, she couldn't hear what Derek said. "What?"

"I said, where do you want to go?" Derek repeats

"I don't know, anywhere. McDonald's, Burger King, anywhere, I don't really care."

"I meant, for our next adventure. Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Romania, Honduras, Ukraine, Russia, or Australia?" Derek began listing.

"How about somewhere we've never been to before. Somewhere in Europe though." Cassie suggests.

"Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia, Syria, Siberia, Serbia, we've never been to any of those countries."

"Not all of them are in Europe." Cassie points out. "Siberia to be exact."

"Okay then, where do you want to go?" Derek sips his coffee.

"Either Croatia or Bosnia." Cassie answers.

Derek finished his coffee before throwing the cup into a nearby garbage bin. "How about we flip a coin?" Derek says before pulling out a quarter.

"Sure thing buddy." Cassie says, finishing her coffee. "Heads, we go to Croatia."

"So tails we go to Bosnia." Derek finishes. He flips the coin into the air. It comes flying down and Derek catches it in his palm and slaps in on his other hand's wrist. He keeps it covered.

"Wait a second Derek, why are we even going to Croatia or Bosnia?" Cassie asks with uncertainty.

"We should go on vacation so we can get away from the stress. Our last adventure, we killed people, we should at least go do something to take our minds off of it." Derek told.

Cassie thought about that for a moment. Was she really going to go on another adventure to put behind another adventure? _Hell yes I am._ "Go for it."

Derek removes his hand and reveals what the coin landed on. Tails. "Looks like we are going to Bosnia."

* * *

 **Damian Daniel O'Brien**

 **Born: 1996 (39), Ireland**

 **Hair: Reddish-brown**

 **Eye: Blue**

 **Height: 5'11"**

 **Weight: One-ninety**

 **Nationality: Irish**

 **Damian O'Brien was born to unknown parents in a unknown part of Ireland. His only known living relative was his younger brother Lewis, who is currently a college professor teaching quantum mechanics at MIT. Damian is implied to have lived with abusive parents as he voices extreme disgust whenever he talks about them and is somewhat envious of his brother because he became a huge success. He is currently Keenan Rowan's only trustworthy ally and his main henchman. Damian is a complete and utter sociopath, taking pleasure in killing others mainly for fun. He has no problems killing anybody, with the exception of babies and will never question Rowan's orders.**


	5. Bosnia

One Week Later

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Cassie leaned against the hood of the jeep. In the jungles of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cassie watched a waterfall in the distance. Derek was taking pictures with his phone and uploading them. Cassie flips a quarters several times.

Derek gives a deep and long sigh. He was getting bored. "Cassie, can we continue on with this adventure, that waterfall is not going to dry up for another four hundred years."

Cassie puts the quarter in her pocket and climbs into the passenger seat of the jeep. "Drive on big boy." She tells.

"Finally." Derek sits up in his seat and reaches for the stick. He puts the car in drive. He slowly puts his foot on the gas and drives off. "So Cassie, is there any particular place you want to go to?"

Cassie leaned back in her seat. She stares up into the sky. She thinks about Derek's question. "I don't know, like I said, this is my first time in Bosnia and Herzegovina." Cassie says sarcastically.

"Well, one week ago, when we decided to go to Bosnia, I did some research. One of the most visited places in Bosnia is this place called the 'Pyramid of the Sun,' which is a pyramid." Derek tells. "We could visit there. The place hasn't been excavated in several years."

"Why not?" Cassie wonders.

"Who knows." Derek answers. He risks a glance at Cassie. He could see some of her bare chest, and realized she wasn't wearing a bra. He smirked before paying full attention to the road. In the jungles of Perucica, the road was overgrown and very bumpy.

"Can I drive?" Cassie asks.

"Why, so you can drive us over a cliff?" Derek asks sarcastically.

"No, I just want to drive."

"When I am drunk from drinking ten shots of tequila, then you can drive." Derek says with a wide grin. He just love teasing Cassie. "I just like driving a woman around, makes me feel like a chivalrous man."

"Did you just say drive a woman around?" Cassie says with wide eyes. "The way how you said woman, sounded very derogatory and I am insulted by that." Cassie shakes her head. "That was pretty offensive."

"I am sorry for offending you Cassie. I was trying to be chivalrous." Derek says sincerely.

"Haha, I am just busting your chops." Cassie laughs, resulting in Derek blushing from embarrassment.

"I knew it was a joke the whole time, that is why I…" He stutters.

"Pay attention!" Cassie shouts, notching a log in the road.

Derek eyes widen upon seeing that they were about to crash into a huge log. He jerks the wheel to the right and drives right into the trees of the jungle.

Slamming his foot on the brake so they wouldn't crash, Derek almost fell forward due to the sudden stop. He almost hit his forehead. Cassie was strapped in and barely jerked forward. They crash into a tree, but not fast enough because of the brake that Derek planted his foot on.

The airbags deployed just as Derek's head fell into the wheel. He barely hit the airbag. Just his nose hit it. Cassie leans back in her seat and coughs. They once again survived a life or death experience. Derek almost killed the both of them.

"What the hell are you doing Derek!" Cassie shouts, berating him.

"I was paying attention to the road, you distracted me, and man, we are lucky to be alive." Derek says in betweens breaths.

"I am so telling my therapist that you almost killed me." Cassie says, opening the door after unbuckling her seat belt. She runs to the grille of the jeep. Barely a scratch or dent on it. Cassie rests her head on the hood. She senses Derek staring at her. "Derek, are you being a pervert again?"

Derek blushed once again. "No."

"So I am not pretty?" She shows him her smile.

"No...yes...maybe…" He stutters once more. He finally calms down and his face color turns to normal. "You are busting my chops again aren't you?"

"I most certainly am." Cassie says cheerfully. "There is barely a scratch on this car. But let's get get out of here before we get in trouble." She climbs back into the passenger seat.

"How are we going to get in trouble, we have a permit to be in this jungle. We have our passports with us and the guns we have with are owned by us, how can we possibly get in trouble?"

Then, Cassie's phone rang in the back of her pants. Pulling out her phone, the caller ID said 'Sully,' her grandfather. She happily answers it. She puts the phone to her ear. Derek already shifted gears and was starting to drive back onto the main road.

"Hey there Sully." Cassie says in a cheerful voice.

"Hey there kid." Sully said in an old voice. By 2035, he is at least eighty-four years old, but he still strong as an ox. "Where are you guys at?"

Cassie sighs before answering. "We're in Bosnia, me and Derek."

"That's what I came to warn you about." Sully said in a worried voice. "Keenan Rowan has been spotted in Bosnia."

Cassie's eyes widen. "Rowan is here?"

"Yes, and several of my contacts in Bosnia gave me a heads up."

Derek flattened the break and turned to Cassie. "Keenan Rowan is here in Bosnia?"

"Yes Derek, Keenan Rowan is here, according to Sully." Cassie answers sarcastically.

"Why is Keenan Rowan here in Bosnia?" Derek releases his foot on the break, he continues to drive.

"We would at least like to know why Keenan Rowan is here in Bosnia." Cassie said to Sully. She waited for an answer, but there was no response. She felt fear and stress rising up inside of her just begging to be released.

Then she heard Sully's voice. "All I got from my contacts is that he has done some digging in Bosnia and he is searching for some kind of lost object." Sully said.

"A lost object, like some kind of mythical object?" Cassie asked to confirm what he said.

"Correct, it was some kind of mythical substance called the Cold iron."

Cassie's eyes widened again. "The Cold iron?"

Derek jerked his head in her direction. "The Cold iron from those European stories?"

"Can you guys please explain to me what the Cold iron is?" Sully pleaded.

Cassie hesitantly explained to Sully what the Cold iron was. "The Cold iron is a mythical substance that is said to rappel supernatural creatures like genies, witches, and phantoms, but can also summon them. A famous explorer went looking for the Cold iron in the eighteenth century and disappeared, no one has found him, but he was believed to have disappeared somewhere in the jungles of Bosnia and Herzegovina."

"Okay then." Sully said, instantly recalling all the times that Nate had schooled Sully on some lost explorers during their search for lost cities.

"Sully, do you know where Rowan was spotted exactly?"

Sully smacked his lips. "Well, he was spotted in the jungles of Perucica. My contacts claimed that Rowan and at least twenty mercenaries have discovered some kind of ruins and they are excavating there right now."

Cassie gave a blank expression. "We are in Perucica." She told Sully. She had this sudden feeling of justice flow through her. She despised Rowan so much, she knew that if someone like Rowan were to get their hands on the Cold iron, if it was real, then they could sell it the highest bidder, who would use it for their own sinister purpose.

Suddenly, the line ended. All Cassie could hear was static. She tried calling Sully several times but all ended in failure. When she gave up, she closed her phone and leaned back in her seat.

Derek noticed her and gave a somewhat disappointed look. "A penny for your thoughts Cassie?" He asked politely.

In all the time that she had known Derek, she could not refuse a request like that. She always felt like Derek was the only one she could open up to. "Rowan is here in Bosnia, looking for a mythical artifact and he is excavating right now." She answers somewhat sarcastically. "Bullshit."

"God I hate Keenan Rowan." Derek said. He shifted gears as he drove down a hill. He paid no attention to Cassie as she looked off to the side, staring at the ground as they drive fifty miles an hour.

"We have to stop Rowan." Cassie said as she slowly reeled her head. She slowly gazes upon Derek. "If Keenan Rowan is really looking for the mystical Cold iron, then we have to stop him. If he gets his hands on it and sells it on the black market, who knows what could happen." She leans forward a bit. "The Cold iron has to be real, how many times have my parents proved stories to be more than a tale? And how many times have we proven some stories to be more than a tale?"

He knew she was right.

Derek gives a fierce look. He clenches his jaw in anger. "Cassie, I can always tell when you are wrong and when you are right and in this case, you could not be more right." He slams his foot on the brake, bringing the car to a complete and instant stop. "We have to take this stupid dummy down."

Cassie hit him on his back. "Hell yeah. The only ruins I know that are in Bosnia, from some research I did, are not too far from here. We can make it if we accelerate."

"Correction, I accelerate." Derek corrected with a smile on his face.

* * *

 **Gail Mitchell Murphy**

 **Born: 2008 (27), Ireland**

 **Hair: Black**

 **Eye: Brown**

 **Height: 5'11"**

 **Weight: One-eighty**

 **Nationality: Irish**

 **Relatives: Ciara Murphy (Sister)**

 **Biography: Gail was born in the slums of Ireland and was the victim of abusive parents. His mother and father would abuse Gail and his younger sister Ciara on a near daily basis. After being the sole survivor of a car crash that killed both his parents and sister, he became insane from the massive trauma both physical and physiological. He is crazy, but he is highly intelligent, which is why Rowan recruited Gail into becoming his black market secretary.**


	6. Pillars

**Don't forget to review my story. It would be much appreciated.**

* * *

It took awhile, but when Derek arrived near the ruins, he parked the jeep in the trees and hopped out with Cassie.

Cassie and her curly haired friend hid behind a log and looked in the distance. The ruins there were old, rotted, and covered in cobwebs and nature. The only other sign of living and organisms that were physically moving were several people who appeared to have guns.

Cassie reached for her small binoculars in her satchel and looked through. There were four men, all dressed in black and wielding AK-47 assault rifles. Then an SUV appeared behind them. Stepping out of the driver's seat was none other than Derek's attempted killer, Damian O'Brien.

"Well well well, look who it is." She whispers to Derek. "Damian."

Upon hearing Damian's name, he sneered. Back on Mesa Verde, the ruthless killer almost killed him and now he is back. "I am actually not surprised he is back." Derek says quietly. "He is Rowan's right-hand man."

Then someone else stepped out of the SUV, followed by two others. Only two of them were recognizable, Gail and Jack.

Damian, Gail, Jack, and the other thugs all huddled up and spoke something. Since Cassie was at a distance, she could not hear what they were saying, but she could most certainly read body language.

Damian was gesturing at the ruined pillars. Given the way how he appears to be talking and how he keeps thrusting his hands out to the pillars, he was not happy about something. It was only then when Jack put a hand on Damian's shoulder and all the unhappiness appeared to disappear in Damian because he slowly retracted his hand and put it back to his side.

Then Damian and Jack eyed each other and began speaking. Gail apparently ordered the five thugs to get back to work or something because he made a hand signal that resembled him shooing them off.

Gail climbed into the driver's seat of the SUV while Damian and Jack continued to talk.

Cassie leaned in closer to see if she could listen in on their conversation, then she saw something that surprised her: Damian and Jack were kissing passionately. It appeared that Damian and Jack loved each other.

All of a sudden, Derek saw a more human side in Damian, _I guess even evil ones can can still experience love._ However, he doubted he would see anymore of Damian or Jack's more human side.

When Damian and Jack were done kissing, they, along with climbed back into the SUV and drove off, leaving the five thugs with shovels to continued to dig around.

Cassie put the mini binoculars in her pocket and she was about to jump over the log, until she felt a pair of hands touch her shoulders. She felt being shoved over the log and fall into a mud pile.

Beside her, Derek landed hard on his shoulder. Cassie looked up and saw two men. Cassie got up just as the two thugs jumped over the log.

The five thugs digging up around the ruins noticed Cassie and Derek and decided to go help their comrades.

Cassie punched the nearest thug in front of her in the gut, but he barely flinched. _OH SHIT!_ The thug headbutts Cassie before punching her in the jaw.

Derek was tackled to the ground and landed on his side with the thug on top of him.

Cassie felt a numbness in her jaw and tasted blood on her tongue and that is when she realized she bit her tongue, but due to the adrenaline, she could not feel the pain. She uppercuts the thug in the jaw and knees him in the groin.

The five thugs had caught up to Cassie and Derek and helped the two thugs beat up Cassie and Derek.

While Cassie was being kicked and punched from all thugs, she noticed a gun in one of the thug's armpit holsters. All she had to do was wait for the right moment to reach for it and give herself some space with it.

After receiving a hard blow to the gut, she finally reached for the gun and shot one of the thugs in the chest.

The six living thugs flinched. Even the one that was roughing up Derek. This gave him the chance to beat up the man who was beating him up. He uppercuts the man and elbows him in the chest.

One of the four thugs that was beating up Cassie yanked the gun away from her and aimed it at her temple. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, the thug that was roughing up Derek was pushed. The thug crashed into the thug with the gun and they both went falling to the ground.

Cassie and Derek finished off the other three thugs that were still standing. Once they knocked out the three, they turned back and saw the thug with the gun aim at them. Adrenaline kicked in. Cassie kicks the pistol out of the man's hand before stomping on his head, knocking the man out.

Now that all the thugs were finished, Cassie and Derek took the time to asses their wounds. Cassie had a busted lip and a bruised jaw and a black eye while Derek had a bloody nose and a large gash across his forehead.

"Well, that was fun." Derek says sarcastically.

"Intense, I agree." Cassie said, massaging her bruised jaw. After she felt satisfied, she retrieved the dropped pistol and checked the magazine before tucking it into her back pocket. Now she had two guns with her. The one she brought and the thug's gun.

She saw in the corner of her eye that Derek was looting the unconscious bodies of the thugs.

"Whenever you are done fondling that unconscious thug, we have some work to do." Cassie said. Derek glared at her, but since her back was turned to him, he glared at the back of her skull.

After arming up with the AK-47 rifles that the thugs dropped before they confronted the two, they explored the ruins.

"Wow, look at these ruins, how can nobody have seen this in years?" Derek asks Cassie beside him.

She shrugs. "Who knows, but like the Bosnian Pyramids you mentioned earlier, people would have at least stopped excavating here for at least a decade." She explains.

The tall and gray colored pillars were painted with some kind of ancient symbols. The symbols on the pillar looked very familiar to her. "Huh, Derek come over here." She orders. When she felt him by his side, she told Derek what the symbols were. "Derek, five bucks say you can't guess what these symbols are."

Derek's eyes widened, he recognized the symbols. "That is…"

"Glagolitic script." The both say. They chuckle upon their discovery.

"So it appears that the Early Slavs have something to do with all of this." Cassie said.

"I am sure glad we can read ancient languages." Derek comments. "I guess we have your father Nate to thank for."

Cassie begins to rub the writing. She rubbed her palm all over the writing. She became entranced. "Beautiful." She says to herself. "Get me some paper." She orders. She then felt Derek reach into her back pocket and pull out her blue colored journal. "You must have really enjoyed putting your hand in my pants." She teased.

He blushed a little and hands her a torn out page and a pencil. She takes the pencil and paper and begins to trace over the Early Slavs alphabet. When she finished, she examined the piece of paper.

She began to read but paused. "Huh, very odd. Only half an inscription." She tells Derek.

"What the hell, this should not be a wild goose chase." Derek complained before snatching the paper. While Derek was studying the paper, Cassie felt a frustration flow through her. Then she spotted something she missed earlier. She tapped Derek's shoulder before speaking. "Four pillars, four inscriptions." She said. She chuckled a bit. Derek smiled upon the discovery. "Derek, make a tracing of those two pillars while I make a tracing of that pillar."

"On it." Derek said. He ripped out two pages and removed a spare pencil. Cassie took the journal and walked to the pillar that was twenty-feet apart from the first pillar. She straightened out the paper before she traced over it.

"Don't scratch too hard, they are going to get excited." Derek chuckled.

"Ohh, jealous Derek?" Cassie countered.

Once they finished, the two regrouped and combined the four tracings. "Voila." Cassie said. The four tracings combined showed an image of something. "An overhead shot of some kind of pyramid." Cassie said to Derek. "These other two weird star symbols look like some kind of coordinates."

Derek eyes widened in amazement. "Those are other ruins. I think the map is trying to say, we have to go to these other two ruins to find the next piece of the puzzle." Derek deduced.

"Good eye." Cassie complimented. "Your most notable trait is your ability to see things before other people see them."

"In other words, I am extremely observant." Derek said with a smile. He was truly observant, while Cassie's most notable trait is her quick thinking in being able to analyze and plan out situations very quickly.

"Your sharp eye and my quick thinking is what make us unstoppable." Cassie said. She folds the paper and places it in her journal. Then she felt something whistle past her forehead, missing her by literally an inch. She flinched and looked over her shoulder.

Several men armed with assault rifles stood behind the log from earlier and fired at the duo.

Quickly picking up their AK-47 rifles, the duo took cover behind the first pillar. The bullets buried themselves in the pillar and dust emitted.

"Those dumb sons of bitches." Cassie said while crouching down. She quickly cocks the rifle and aims it at the shooters. She noticed how they weren't the thugs they knocked out earlier, but reinforcement and there were seven of them all spread out but two of them were taking cover behind the log.

She squeezes the trigger once she aims at one of the shooters. Two bullets flew into the shooter's chest and he collapsed to the ground, dead. She took cover again.

Derek blind fired at the shooters and managed to kill one. When he heard the gun click, he yanked his arms back just as the bullets came flying in their directions.

Cassie fired her gun again and twelve bullets went flying near one shooter's head, but none of the bullets hit their desired target, they just lodged themselves in the trees behind.

With only five shooters left, they (the shooters) spread out so they could get the drop on Cassie and Derek. A tall one flanked right while a slightly taller one flanked left. The other shooter took cover behind the log with the other two shooters.

The taller shooter snuck on Cassie and Derek from the pillar across from them (the second pillar that Cassie traced over). Cassie noticed the tall shooter and raised her gun to shoot, unfortunately the gun jammed on her.

Derek however, fired a whole magazine into the taller shooter and right over Cassie's head. He fell flat on his back and blood oozed out of him.

When Cassie unjammed her gun, she turned to Derek and thanked him. "I owe you one." Then she spotted the tall shooter sneaking up on Derek. Without thinking, she blindfired the thug in the chest and head. He fell backwards and landed dead in a bush. "DOWN YOU GO!" She jokingly shouted. "Now we are even."

There were still the three shooters to deal with. "Time to even the odds." She says. "From two to three, to two to two."

Both of them quickly reloaded their guns with the magazines they got from the corpse of the tall shooter and waited for the right moment to strike. When they heard the ceasefire of the three thugs shooting, they jumped out from behind the pillar and blasted all their bullets. When they both ran out of ammo, they observed the damage that they had done. One thug was lying on his side with a hole in his head, another lying on the log with several bullets holes in his stomach while the third one was standing, but was leaking blood profusely from his stomach, head, chest, and limbs.

Cassie and Derek were actually shocked on how the man was seemingly able to survive dozens of gunshots and managed to still be standing, but when he coughed up his blood, the duo knew that he was drowning in his own blood before falling forward, dead.

Cassie and Derek quickly looted for ammo before climbing back into their jeep after searching the ruins for more. Derek climbed into the passenger seat while Cassie hopped into the driver's seat.

"Okay, which of those two star ruins are we going to first?" Derek asked, putting his AK-47 to the floor of the jeep. It rested between his legs.

"Well, you got the map." Cassie answered, putting the car into drive but kept her foot on the brake.

"It's in your back pocket!" Derek reminded.

Cassie gave an 'oh' look before grabbing the journal and handing it to Derek. "You navigate, I drive. Got it?"

Derek nodded instantly. "You got it boss."

* * *

 **Jack Walsh**

 **Born: 2009 (26), Ireland**

 **Hair: Brown**

 **Eye: Brown**

 **Height: 5'11"**

 **Weight: One-eighty**

 **Nationality: Irish**

 **Relatives: Damian O'Brien (Lover)**

 **Biography: Jack Walsh was a former cop stationed in a town called Cork. He was dishonorably discharged after shooting an innocent person after of jealousy. This person turned out to be his girlfriend, who cheated on him. Having lost his humanity after his first kill, he knew that he would be a wanted fugitive, so he turned to a life on the run. Due to his lack of humanity, Keenan Rowan saw him as man who could make a find second lieutenant, so he employed Jack Walsh into his black market empire. There, he met Damian O'Brien, whom he began to grow feelings for him and the two eventually became lovers.**


	7. Bulletproof Windows

Cassie drove off. Derek was navigating with the map, guiding her to the nearest ruins, which appeared to be at least seven miles from their location.

"We still got six miles to go." Derek said. "I am just letting you know ahead a time."

Cassie smiled. "Thank you D-Man!" She said nonchalantly.

Just as she continued to drive up a dirt road, a large pickup truck painted white suddenly materialized beside them. "What the hell?" She mutters.

Derek gazed at the driver, his face was obscured by the tinted windows. All of a sudden, the large pickup truck rammed into the jeep, knocking Cassie off her course. She jerks the wheel to the left to try and get back on the course but the pickup truck was trying to run her off the road. "Who in the frickin world is our guest?"

All of a sudden, in the rearview mirror, there was another pickup truck, but was painted black. The black pickup rammed into the back of the jeep, knocking off the spare tire. "Man, these guys are crazy!" Cassie shouts at the top of her lungs. "We gotta lose them!"

Derek stares at her in disbelief. "You are the one driving! You gotta shake them off!"

"Thank you curly fry." Cassie said and she was referring to his curly brown hair.

The black pickup truck rams the jeep again, but Cassie was prepared this time. She jerks the wheel to the right and barely dodges a tree, but the two pickup trucks were still in hot pursuit.

"That's it, we gotta take these guys out." She says to herself before talking to Derek. "Show them who's boss."

"Sure thing." Derek grabs the AK-47 from between his legs and checks the magazine. "Lock and load."

He sits up and aims the gun at the window film of the white pickup truck. He squeezes the trigger. Bullets go flying right into the windshield and blood painted it. The blood however, was not from the driver's side, but from the passenger's side.

Derek squeezes the trigger once more and this time, blood splattered all over the window from the driver's side. The white pickup truck veered off the road and went crashing into the tree before flipping onto the side and catching fire.

"One down, one to go." Derek says to Cassie after reloading his gun. He then takes aim at the windshield of the black pickup truck. He fires.

Although the bullets hit their desired target, no blood painted the windows. "Oh crap, this truck is bulletproof!" Derek shouts.

"Since that's the case, I will try and lose this punk." Cassie says in a very unusually calm voice. "Do you want to drive Mr. Chivalrous?"

"No, you are doing just fine." Derek answers, putting his AK between his legs. "Just don't kill us."

Cassie risks driving right over a log in the road, but the pickup was still in pursuit. She jerks the wheel several times in different directions in hopes of dodging every attack the pickup truck threw at them.

"Can you go a little faster?" Derek asked, clutching the barrel of his AK.

"Yeah, that's what she said." Cassie says, chuckling.

"Why do I even bother?" Derek asks himself, putting his free hand to his forehead.

Cassie looks in the rearview mirror, just before it is shot. She risks a glance over her shoulder and saw a gunman hanging out the passenger window and is armed with a uzi pistol. "Derek, take that punk out!"

Derek picks up his AK and turns back. Once the gunman was down firing his uzi, Derek brought his gun up to his shoulder and aimed right at the man's head. He readies himself to pull the trigger, until Cassie drove over something very bumpy that it threw of Derek's aim, but when the pickup drove over the bumpy part in the road, it also threw off his aim and his reloading time.

Derek fires and the gunman falls out through the window, dead.

Derek sits back down and checks his magazine clip, he has only seven bullets left and he knew he was not going to waste them on a bulletproof pickup truck.

"Hang on tight and make sure your seatbelt is fastened!" Cassie warns as she gets ready to drive off a hill.

Cassie felt her heart sink as she drove the jeep right off a hill and down a steep slide. She pulled the emergency brakes and turned the wheel to avoid crashing into the trees. "Could have gone better."

They were going to crash into a big tree, and this time, the wheel was locked into place. "JUMP!" Cassie shouts before spontaneously jumping out the jeep. Derek followed, abandoning his gun.

"Crap!" Cassie shouts. She and Derek began rolling down the hill, hard. Mud, dirt and plants consumed them and they even tasted their own blood in their mouth.

Derek falls forward and crashes into a bush, but continued to roll down the hill. Cassie on the other hand, hit her knee against a tree trunk, but that did not stop her from sliding down the hill.

They both scream in terror.

Cassie hits her head against, what felt to be a tree stump, but she did not feel the pain directly. She was already in pain, everywhere!

Derek went crashing right into Cassie and they both hit another tree stump, hard. But this time, Cassie managed to cling on to a small branch with one hand, while using her other than to hang onto Derek. "Man…" She spits dirt out of her mouth. She found the taste of dirt to be extremely foul. "...I don't know how, but we always manage to survive even the most ridiculous situations yet."

Then the branch she held on was no match for her and Derek's weight combined. It snapped right off and they both went rolling down the hill once more. "Crap!" They both shout once more as they prepare to endure another rollercoaster of pain.

But then the rollercoaster of pain ended. They landed on the flat and solid ground, albeit painfully, since they both landed hard on their backs. They landed near an edge that lead to a river with rapids below.

"See, told you we always survive." Cassie said, massaging her ribcage and knee, which was beginning to hurt a lot.

Derek, lying on his stomach, moans in pain. He did not hear a single word that Cassie said.

"D-Man, are you alright?" Cassie asks, sitting up. She gasps in fear when she felt something land right near her, their jeep, which was now totaled and going nowhere. Not even Derek nor Cassie's guns were in there, but their equipment was still in there.

Cassie stares at the totaled jeep before getting up to her feet, slowly though. Her entire body felt like it was on fire and she was hurting really badly. Cassie goes to the flipped over jeep and searches the glove compartment and the satchels in the back, which managed to stay attached to the jeep somehow, even when rolling down a hill.

Inside the satchels were two pitons and two grappling hooks. "Look what we have here." She comments as she pulls them out. "Luckily for us, our equipment was unharmed." She clutches her ribs again, the pain intensifying. "Man I'm hurt." She says to herself, but loud enough for Derek to hear.

"I can make you hurt even more." A familiar Irish voice said.

Cassie slowly turns her head to her right and sees Derek being held at gunpoint by none other than Damian O'Brien and who was with Damian was his boyfriend Jack armed with a shotgun and Gail armed with a pistol, but pointed towards the ground. "You know, Miss Davis, it was much easier getting down. We took a path, we did not take a slide down a hill."

 _So, it was Damian, Jack and Gail in the black pickup truck,_ Cassie thought.

Cassie raises her hands and smile. They were still under the impression that their names were Cassie Davis and Derek Lambert. "Hahaha." She chuckles, throwing the two grappling hooks and pitons to the ground and near the edge.

"Miss Davis, I believe you have something that we want." Gail says. "Hand over the inscriptions." He orders.

"How did you know about the inscriptions?" Cassie asked.

Gail gave a can-you-believe-this-guy look. "We planned it. We knew you would figure out the puzzle for us, so we let you do our dirty work so we can steal it later." He explained, "Simple. You shot me in my belly back at Mesa Verde." He pointed out, fueled by anger.

"I was feeling somewhat sympathetic, if it makes you feel better." Cassie told, raising her hands above her head. She was being honest, to some degree.

"Enough stalling." Jack aims his shotgun and leans in. "Give us the inscriptions or we will kill Mr. Lambert here."

"Correction Jack, I kill him." Damian says proudly.

"Hey, Damian, let me ask you something. Back in Mesa Verde, why didn't you just push me off the mountain?"

Damian did not hesitate to answer. "That would have been a quick death. I was going to shoot you in the stomach and let you die slowly and then push what was left of you off that mountain." He tells. That would explain the suppressor. "I'm not a person who grants quick and painless deaths. I kill people slowly and painfully."

"Here's an idea, how about we all walk away and die in our beds as old people?" Cassie suggested, putting back on her humor persona.

"Inscriptions!" Gail demanded firmly.

"Fine then, you win." She slowly reaches into her pocket to pull out not her journal with the inscription, but a grenade, which she took from a dead shooter earlier. She winks at Derek, who instantly remembered the grenade she took.

Cassie quietly pulls the pin and throws it at the villains. Derek kicks Damian in the groin and runs towards Cassie. Gail and Jack made no attempt to stop them, only to get as far away as possible from the grenade.

Instinctively, Damian runs for his life as well.

Cassie and Derek grabbed a piton and grappling hook each and jumped over the cliff and into the rapid waters, confidant that they will survive the encounter.

The grenade went off, but all three villains managed to get to safety in time.

Cassie and Derek struggled to keep their heads surfaced. No matter what they did, they would always have their heads going underwater.

Cassie remembered the time in India when Derek and herself were caught in rapid waters.

After having to deal with several second so rapid waters, they finally entered calm waters. They both swam to shore while each held a piton and grappling hook in each hand.

Cassie coughs up the water that filled her lungs as soon as she made it to shore. "Man, we've had worse times, especially in India."

Derek coughs before answering her. "That was a _swim_ in the park compared to this." He puns.

"You got weak puns Derek Lowell." Cassie says before sitting down on a large rock.

"What the hell was that?" Derek asked, outstretching both of his arms. "Are you trying to get us kill? You drove us off a hill and now we were forced to literally jump into the water." He says angrily. "And earlier you said I was trying to kill us."

Cassie smiles. "I'm sorry Derek. The whole thing was on me, but we survived. We always survive. We are immortal." She then sets her tools down on the rock before pulling out her journal from her back pocket. She did not need to worry about the water in the pages, they were waterproof. _It was expensive, but worth it._

She turned through several pages before remembering that Derek was the last one who had the map and inscriptions, but she copied the inscriptions and map into her waterproof journal. _Always be prepared._

"Okay, so according to my journal. The next step to finding the Cold iron is to find the other two inscriptions and our original desired ruins location is just along this river." She reads to Derek. "All we have to do is follow this river and we should make it to the ruins."

"Go ahead, lead on Miss 'Davis'." Derek says jokingly.

"Hey, why thank you Mister 'Lambert'." Cassie responds in a flippant, yet funny voice.

* * *

 **Who knows what horrors await for Cassie and Derek in their adventure. Don't forget to review.**


	8. Fears

**Don't Forget to review. Also, I already have plans for a sequel.**

The primeval forest that Cassie and Derek were in really brought back some memories. When Cassie was seven, before she met Derek, her father took her to a jungle in Bolivia, where she learned how to climb trees. And five years ago, Cassie and Derek took an expedition into the jungles of Panama to look for a lost city called Xibalba, they never found it though.

Cassie was walking forward, staying on dry land, but close to the river. They still had at least three miles to go and luckily, no mercenaries-for-hire were trailing them. All they heard was the tweeting of the birds and the sounds of crickets mating with each other. Just like that iguana they saw in Jamaica.

Cassie's stomach started gurgling and her mouth was as dry as a desert. She needed food, water, and a chance to sleep. She hunches forward and grasps her stomach, but kept on walking.

"Are you alright?" Derek asks, worried. When he did not receive and answer, he put a hand on her shoulder. (Just to clarify, she is NOT pregnant).

"I'm fine D-Man, just hungry, tired, and thirsty. I could drink two gallons of water, even undrinkable water."

Derek smirks, kinda. Doing the nice thing, he reaches for a pocket around his calf and pulls out a canteen. He quickly fills it up with water and gives it to Cassie.

Upon feeling the cool water flush down her throat, she felt the hairs on her skin stick up. The water was very cold and very refreshing. "Thank you D-Man." She says after consuming the water in the canteen. She returns the canteen to him, who fills it for himself to drink. Then he filled it again and put the canteen in his pocket around his calf.

"Man, refreshing." She says in between laughs.

Derek wondered what she was laughing about, but decided not to ask. _Stay on task buddy,_ he thought to himself.

"Well then, it seems we still got a walk ahead and we mustn't be late." Cassie said before walking forward.

* * *

Just two miles behind, in the jungle stood Keenan Rowan and his number one archaeologist Gail Murphy. Three mercenaries were guarding the two.

"Where did Davis and Lambert go?" Rowan asked impatiently to Gail, who was crouching on the ground and examining footprints left by the duo.

"It appears, our friends have left tracks for us." Gail says to his boss. "The tracks start off as wet, due to their shoes being wet, but once their shoes begin to dry, so do the tracks, making them less visible." He tells, stroking his jaw in a casual manner.

"We have to get those inscriptions, if we are to find the Cold iron, then we need those inscriptions." Rowan reminded to his intelligent henchman.

"Mm hmm, we sure do need those inscriptions to know where the Cold iron is exactly." He says as he gets up. He began thinking of something. "I am trying to think, what would I do if I was this Cassie Davis and/or Derek Lambert." He says, turning to Rowan.

"What are you thinking Gail?"

Gail sighs. "I am thinking this. I would look for the next step to the puzzle. I would search for other pillars to see if they are connected to the pillars at the ruins. And I would start off with…" He suddenly remembered seeing a map of Perucica. Aside from the ruins that Rowan and his army of mercenaries found, there were two other ruins locations on the map, and neither have been excavated in a decade. He then tells Rowan of his hypothesis. "We are going to have to beat them to these ruins." He says sardonically.

* * *

"Hey Cassie, quick question." Derek says, stepping over a boulder. "What do the Early Slavs have to do with the Cold iron?"

Cassie thought for a second. _What did the Early Slavs have to do with the Cold iron I wonder._ "The Early Slavs were an early tribe group that existed in the Early Middle Ages all throughout Europe. The Cold iron, the actual mythical object, unlike the kind of horseshoes that people put up to repel demons, was said to have existed in the sixth century. They could have discovered the Cold iron substance sometime in the tenth century and hidden it from the world. The pillars, they would write Glagolitic script on it to let other Slavs know where they are going." Cassie explained.

"Good theory." Derek says dryly. "That is actually a very good theory that you have come up with."

Cassie blushed at the compliment. "Why thank you. If you ever say something smart to me Derek, then I will compliment you." She told.

"I say smart things all the time." Derek counters.

"Okay then. If you say so. If you say so." She says slowly.

* * *

After some hiking, they stumbled upon a cliff with nowhere to go. They couldn't even go around. So their only option was to go forward. Luckily, there was a long branch they could swing across. The gap was only like twenty or thirty feet.

"So, who to go first?" Cassie asks. She raises a hand. "Me first, that's who." She puts her piton in her back pocket and grabs her grappling hook from her belt loop. She did what her father, and uncle Sam taught her to do: swing it a few times before throwing it. She throws the hook and it wraps itself around the branch.

"Yank it, then swing." She whispers. Once she tugs on the rope, testing its safety, she swings. She made it to the other side. _Man, luckily I did not plummet two thousand feet to my death._ She twirls the rope to free it from the branch. She coils it up and shouts for Derek to swing over. "Don't worry, the branch is strong enough to hold even your weight."

"Haha." Derek laughs. "Screw you too Cassie." Derek throws the grappling hook and swings across to the other side. He untangles the rope.

"Okay, so where to now?" Derek asks.

All they could see in front of them was a cave entrance. They could not go around, so once again, forward.

"In there." Cassie points. "I'll go first to make sure its safe." She puts her grappling hook to her belt loop and walks into the cave, using her piton as a weapon just in case.

Reaching for her waist, she turns on her angle head flashlight to illuminate where she was going. The cave was not really big, but there was no sunlight at all in the cave. Aside from Derek's footsteps behind her, she could hear nothing but the dripping of water.

"Be careful, stay close man." She says to Derek behind her. "Places looks unstable."

Cassie and Derek squeezed through a narrow opening, and found themselves standing on a narrow bridge. Below them was a long drop into darkness. Out of sheer curiosity, she kicks a rock down into the abyss to see how deep it was. She heard nothing.

 _Man, that is a very long way down._ Cassie walked slowly across the bridge, Derek giving her some space by staying three to four feet behind her.

"Don't look down." Derek reminds. Cassie gives an exaggerated gasp.

"Thank you for letting me know." She says back. "I mean, I just kicked a rock down into that abyss and I heard no noise at the bottom. Thank you for reminding me not to look down. Much, much appreciated."

"Smart ass." Derek mutters.

"At least I'm smart." Cassie countered after hearing what Derek said. "At least I'm not dumb."

"I'm not dumb, I aced my SATS and I went to college and I am still in college." Derek counters.

"Okay then." Cassie said before making it to the end of the bridge and squeezing through another narrow opening.

"Man what is up with this place?" Cassie asks herself upon seeing a whole flock of bats above her head. "Derek, stay back!" She ordered, but Derek was already through the opening.

"BATS!" He screams in fear as they swarm him. "GET THEM OFF ME!" He yells.

Cassie shines her flashlight at the bats in hopes of getting rid of them, but was only successful in driving off several of them and not all of them.

"GO AWAY!" Derek saw flashbacks of his childhood. Ever since he was six, he has suffered from a very severe case of chiroptophobia, the fear of bats. He had no idea why he was terrified of bats, but he had a theory. On his sixth birthday, he vaguely remembers consuming some kind of alcohol, mistaking it for water and the stench of the drink somehow attracted a bat, which attacked him and gave him rabies. _I am never getting twenty-seven shots in my stomach again._

Out of fear, Derek lunges forward in an attempt to get away from the bats. He crashes into Cassie and the two go sliding down a steep rock wall. At least the bats weren't chasing them anywhere.

* * *

"Gail did you hear that scream?" Rowan asked as Gail swung across the branch with a grappling hook and meeting him.

"Yeah." Gail answers before swinging the end of grappling hook to the other side so the mercenaries could swing across.

"Sounded like it was coming from that cave." Rowan points. "If I didn't know, it might be Davis and Lambert. Well, most likely, since this is the only path that they could have taken. We must be wary though. If someone like those two trouble makers were screaming in a cave, then there must be something dangerous inside. Tell the men as soon as they swing over."

* * *

"Are you alright Derek?" Cassie asked in a concerned voice.

Derek's hands and breathing were shaking badly. But he answered anyway. "I will be alright."

"You sure?" Cassie got up and helped Derek to his feet. "I will go first this time and warn you if I see anymore bats."

"Thanks a lot. Really, thank you." Derek said, hugging her tightly from. This was one of the moments where Derek actually felt vulnerable. She has seen his vulnerable side, but only five times, plus today, in her life.

Derek actually smiled upon feeling her heartbeat from her back. Although he felt so vulnerable right now, he did not need to worry. So far in his life, Cassie was the only person that he could fell vulnerable in front of and not feel or be judged.

"Follow me D-Man." Cassie marched forward. Then all of a sudden, they heard something. It sounded like the echo of someone screaming. "What the hell was that?" She whispers.

* * *

Rowan was moving across the bridge with Gail following close behind. In front of Rowan was a young mercenary who was gazing into the deep abyss. He was wondering how deep the chasm was.

Rowan was so curious to see how deep the abyss was, that he literally pushed the mercenary off the bridge and into the abyss, giving a blood curdling scream that echoed the caves.

Rowan and Gail watched very carefully as the mercenary fell, shrinking before disappearing into the darkness.

Gail stares at Rowan in horror. "You just killed that man." He whispers.

Rowan showed no sympathy or any hint of humanity in him. "So what if I pushed mercenary to his death?" Then they heard a clatter. "Long way down. Long way down."

"One of the things I fear is heights. I dread falling to my death." Gail admitted.

Rowan stared at him with a sadistic smile. _If you play your cards right, then maybe I won't push you off of this bridge. Or any cliff for that matter._

* * *

Cassie and Derek gave one last look to see what the scream-like noise was before they walked off.

"What was that scream?" Derek asks.

"I don't know, but keep your voice down. For all we know, that could be one of Rowan's mercenaries. Or a monster at least." Cassie answers.

* * *

 **I have been thinking of writing a fanfiction for** _ **The Last of Us**_ **and** _ **Tomb Raider.**_ **I do not know which one I should write though. I should focus on that later though. I hope you guys are liking the story.**


	9. More Pillars

**February 14, Happy Birthday Arizona and Lara Croft**

* * *

Rowan and Gail were ambushed by bats. They thrashed their limbs in an attempt to bat them away but were unsuccessful. In the ensuing thrashing, Gail almost went falling off the bridge, but for some odd reason, Rowan saved his life.

* * *

Cassie and Derek were climbing a rock wall with no safety equipment, just like in Mesa Verde. Derek was above Cassie and was directing her towards any handholds that she could grip. Once they reached the very top of the rock wall, Cassie and Derek were back on solid ground.

They shined their flashlights to give themselves a path for them to follow. Cassie led with her flashlight in her left hand and piton in right. Derek heard the howling of the wind, despite the fact that in the cave, no sunlight existed. It could mean that the wind is coming from an exit not too far from them.

"Hey Cassie, you can hear the howling of the wind, am I correct?"

"Sure can. And I have the same idea that you have: An exit and the end of this crazy ride." She puts her angle head flashlight in her belt and jammed her piton into the wall and started climbing. "Up here." Cassie says, indicating the second rock wall they have to climb.

Derek didn't mind. She was going first and that meant that while he was below her, he had an excellent view of something. _Man, I'm creepy._

Derek thrusts his piton onto a weak spot on the rock wall and begins climbing, hand over hand and making sure to use only the handholds and footholds that Cassie has used.

While using a handhold, it broke underneath her hand, but she managed to keep her balance, despite hanging onto a handhold by one hand, which also had her piton in.

Then, while searching above her for another handhold, she felt something sticky in her hand. She examines her hand to see if she could find anything conspicuous. What she found was some kind of sticky webbing that literally webbed her fingers together like the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Disgusted, she wipes the webbing off on her jeans and groans. She sighs before reaching as far as she could above her head. Her fingertips felt the very tip of some kind of handhold, and she reached even further to grab it.

Finally getting a grip, she pulls herself up with her one hand.

After a few more moments of climbing, she finally reached the top once more, but this time, there was trail of water. Standing up to her full height, she flashed the light to see where it went to. It continued into a small hole into the wall. "Maybe the water is coming from some kind of exit." She said to herself. She waited for Derek to climb up before she followed the water trail.

* * *

Rowan, Gail and two mercenaries had just barely survived climbing up a rock wall. They were inexperienced with free climbing, but they got lucky. However, Rowan was not a man who believed in luck. The superstitious young mercenaries were however.

Rowan ordered for his three men to walk forward while he hung back to call in his mercenaries."O'Brien, Walsh, dis is Rowan. Come in." He says into his walkie-talkie. He heard nothing but static until he heard a familiar Irish voice.

"This is Damian, come in, over."

Rowan presses the transmission button. "We are so close to finding Davis and Lambert. I want you to send at least two mercenaries in the caves. Tell them to bring climbing equipment as well."

"Roger that Mr. Rowan. I am on the case right now." Damian says before ending the transmission.

Rowan turns to Gail and his two mercenaires. "We got backup on the way. If Davis and Lambert think they can lose us, then they are in for a surprise." He growls. "As soon as I get my hands of Davis, I am going to hurt her really badly, and then sell her to the highest bidder."

Gail suddenly felt the hairs on his neck stick up and his blood run ice cold. But some of his sadistic side still remained. "Boss, can the boys and myself have some fun with her before we sell her off?"

Rowan chuckled. He loved this side of Gail and he was actually disappointed it didn't show very often.

* * *

Cassie and Derek followed the water trail to an exit and back outside. "Ah, fresh air baby." Cassie says with a chuckle. She had never realized how different the air was until she was back outside. It tasted more fresh.

Derek pants, satisfied. He doubted he would see anymore of those bats. He didn't doubt that he would see the last of Keenan Rowan or his mercs.

Cassie stiffened her stance and walked forward while scanning her environment. They stood upon a cliffside, and they were surrounded in every direction by a huge mountain wall which encaged them in. A light bulb had popped into her head. She had deduced something. _So, it appears the only way through the second ruins is to go through that hole. No wonder the ruins have eluded most people._

The pillars that stood twelve feet from them looked virtually the same as the first pillars. They all appeared to be the same. Tall and gray colored with Glagolitic script. And like before, there were four pillars. Each taking two pieces of paper, they went to go make rubbings of the script. When they finally finished, they combined the scripts.

This time, there was no map, but some kind of writing.

"Huh, this says…" Cassie begins. "...'The Unholy Call For the D-'."

"The Unholy Call For the D-" Derek repeats. He bangs his head to try to think of what the full inscription might say. "What is this unholy thing calling?" He whispers, but didn't know that Cassie heard, since she has keen ears.

"Oh, I am pretty sure we will find out." She said, emphasis on the 'pretty'. "But that's two-thirds." She quickly writes a copy of the inscription into her journal. "Come on, let's get to the next ruins."

"Wait, I am still trying to figure out what the Early Slavs had to do with the Cold iron. They are obviously afraid of the thing if they had hidden it from the world and called it the unholy something." He points out. He watched Cassie slowly nod her head in agreement. He had a point and he knew she knew it.

She looks up to say something, then her eyes widen in fear. Her heart pumped so fast, she forgot how to breath. A gunshot went off and as if in slow motion, a bullet whizzed right towards her head. She closes her eyes tightly as she felt the bullet rip through her dirty blonde hair. She barely flinches however.

Derek turns around and received a strike to the jaw but something blunt. His jaw was hurt badly and he fell down to his knees while clutching his jaw in pain.

A gun was raised towards Cassie's eye level by none other than Gail Murphy. It appeared that the gunshot was missed intentionally to strike fear in her. She knew that Gail had a tight grip on the gun because she saw the whites of his knuckles.

"Don't even think about Davis." Gail says in a very threatening tone. One that was even more threatening than Damian's.

Behind Gail stood four mercenaries with assault rifles trained on her. She did the wise thing of raising her hands above her head. She noticed that two of the mercenaries had their AKs shouldered and they were yanking Derek to his feet.

Then, Keenan Rowan materialized behind Gail. He studies Cassie's face intensely, as if she was some kind of new species introduced to a human. "Why, hello there Davis. Nice to see you again." He gazes at the journal in her hand. He quickly sntaches it from her before handing it to a mercenary behind him.

Cassie put on a forced smile to make it seem like she was no threat. That was her tactic: play innocent then kick them while they were down. "Oh, you know me, it is always a pleasure for people to meet me."

"Smart ass." Rowan said, still studying her intensely. He was not studying Derek however. "Let me ask you something Davis, is this something you enjoy doing?"

Cassie narrowed her eyes. _What the hell did he mean?_ "What the hell do you mean?" She spoke her mind.

"Falling into the loving hands of criminals and arms dealers?" Rowan says. "Playing the damsel in distress. Just practically begging to to be caught and sold."

Cassie had a sudden flashback. One year ago, a villain also had a plan of selling her into human trafficking. He ended up in the grave however. "I like playing the damsel, just not the damsel in distress."

"Your so funny Davis." Rowan said, also putting on a fake smile. Cassie could already sense fury heating up within him. His mercenaries for hire could sense it as well. "You know why I sell women who are from eighteen to twenty-six years of age? Chances are, they never had a first time before. Have you ever made love to your boyfriend right here?"

Cassie suddenly felt her heart drop to her stomach. _Was this creepy pervert really asking me this?_ She never did make love to Derek but she did have dreams though.

"No answer, so no." Rowan said after failing to hear a response from Cassie.

"Rowan, why do you want the Cold iron?" Cassie asked offhandedly, desperate to change the subject.

"A mythical substance that can actually repel demons and monsters while at the same time, summon them? You know what kind of people would pay for that? Kill for that?"

"Terrorists, that's who." Derek said. He was still being restrained by the arms by the two mercs.

"That is correct Lambert." Rowan claps. He seemed to enjoy psychologically torture the two young archaeologists. He then made a whistling noise and a mercenary behind him walked up to Derek and put something on his ears. Headphones.

"What are you doing?!" Derek asks, and then he heard something extremely loud that he though his eardrums were going to burst. He gives a howl of pain and collapses to his knees.

"Read the inscriptions." Rowan ordered to Gail. The merc with the journal handed it to Gail, who began reading the Glagolitic script.

Cassie pleaded for them to take the headphones off, but Rowan told that until Gail finishes reading the inscription, then the headphones stay on.

"Done!" Gail declared and the mercs holding Derek removed him of the headphones. Cassie felt sudden relief. She wanted to go and comfort Derek but one of the mercs behind Rowan had a gun pointed at her.

"It seems we still need a third piece." Rowan says, looking over the journal himself. "Well then, time to go find the last of the ruins." He gives a wide and true smile. Cassie stared in disgust at his completely yellow stained teeth. _Someone missed their dentist appointment._

"Miss Davis, would you so kindly lead us to the next ruins so we can find the last piece to the puzzle?" Rowan asked. "The Cold iron is almost within our grasp."

"SCREW THE COLD IRON AND SCREW YOU!" She manages to shout, which earns her a shocked face from both Rowan and Gail.

Rowan shook his head. "Just say the F word like a regular person."

"Boss, should I call in Damian and Jack?" One of the mercenaires behind Rowan asked.

"Sure thing Grover."

The merc-Grover-took out his radio while still keeping his gun trained on Cassie. "Damian, Jack, this Grover, just to let you know, make room in the truck. We have the two targets in our grasp."

Rowan and Gail turned and walked back towards the hole with the mercenaries forcing Cassie and Derek to follow.

 _I'll think of a way out. We always get out._ She thought.

* * *

Inside the black pickup truck from earlier, Cassie sat in between two mercenaries. Derek was riding in another pickup truck with Damian and Jack and she feared the worse for him. It was then when she felt something stroking her inner thigh. It appeared that Grover the Mercenary had gotten kinky. Cassie's face turned red, she was flushed with pure anger, but did not let the monster out of the cage yet.

Mostly in her adventures, she had been punched, kicked, shot at, and nearly drowned. But a villain touching her, that's where she draws the lines. And when she felt Grover's hand go to a certain area, boy did he cross the line.

* * *

 **Once again, Happy Birthday Lara Croft the Tomb Raider.**


	10. Damian's coming for you

**The song that is sung in this chapter is a basically Damian's version of the famous A Nightmare on Elm Street song. I am just pointing out that I do not own the song, I only own the parts of the song I made up. If a word is bolded, then that is the part I have made up.**

* * *

Cassie punched Grover as hard as she could in the face and shoved him out of the truck. Then she turned to the mercenary to her right. She elbows him and throws him out of the truck before she lunges out of the truck herself.

She went rolling down a steep hill like the one from earlier. Gail, the driver of the pickup truck, noticed that Cassie had escaped and slammed his foot on the break and the car went sliding forward, leaving tire skids. The car stopped so suddenly, Rowan had smashed his head against the dashboard. Rowan groans in pain and clutches his forehead tightly. Rowan stares at his Gail in anger before punching him in the jaw.

"Bastard!" Rowan shouts. He punches him several more times before punching him hard in the shoulder.

"Sir, Cassie escaped!" Gail says, but still received a punch to the jaw.

* * *

Cassie hit her head against a boulder before losing consciousness. Her unconscious body continued to roll down the hill until it went rolling right into a series of shrubs and bushes. Her body was hidden from sight at least.

* * *

Two mercenaries led by Damian searched the hills to see where Cassie was. They checked all the bushes, but missed the one that her unconscious body was actually hidden in. "Bishop, Amir, have you two found any sign of her?" Damian asked while searching inside a hollow tree.

"Negative sir." The Bosnian mercenary named Amir answered.

"No." The Irish mercenary named Bishop said while searching inside a log. "Maybe she is not here."

"Oh, she is here." Damian insisted. "I can still smell her." He didn't mean it literally though, but he could sense her presence. "Keep looking. We are not leaving until we find her." He orders.

Amir and Damian began looking under a big boulder. They found no sign of Cassie 'Davis.' Damian was starting to have doubts, despite that he could still sense her presence. "I don't think she is here, let's go check down by the river." Damian says, leading the duo of mercenaries.

* * *

Several Minutes Later

Cassie woke up, groggy. The first thing she felt, aside from the itchy leaves that engulfed her, was a stinging pain in her head. She rubs her temple above her right ear and feels something wet. After taking a dab of the wetness, she saw that the tips of her fingers were covered in blood. The pain was slowly wearing off though.

She sits up and climbs out of the bush that covered her from the mercenaries. She was sore in her shoulders, back and chest, but at least she was not feeling any stinging pain in her head. She recollects on what could have been the origin of her wounded head. After several seconds of thinking, she deduced the source. _It was a boulder. I hit a boulder and then everything went black._

"Ow." She groans. "How long have I been out?" The sun was still out, so maybe only a few minutes or a couple of hours. When she looked from the hill that she had just rolled down, she saw no vehicles, so Rowan and his gang of mercs must have driven off.

"Derek man, he must not have escaped." She says to herself. Terror slowly began to consume her. She could live with the fact that she jumped out of a truck with the Derek still within the villains' hands. She could not live with the fact that she could have killed Derek.

"Don't worry Derek. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I will save you. I promise." Cassie began climbing back up the hill, making sure to keep her balance and not fall down the hill for a second time.

"Hang on Derek, I'll be there for you." Cassie said after finally making it to the top of the hill. Aside from the tire skids that went in one direction, there was no evidence of any vehicles that had drove by in a while.

"Where do I go? Where do I go? Where do I go?" Cassie asks herself several times. If she wanted to know where Rowan had taken Derek, she had to think like him. "If I was Rowan, where would I go after I captured my best friend?" She thought really hard. "Aside from behaving like a dick, I would take him to the third and final ruins with the pillars. Those pillars shouldn't be too far away from here. I only traveled like several miles before I bailed out of the truck." She checked her pockets, but found no journal.

"Crap, my journal is gone. It had a map of the ruins. Now how am I going to get there?" She kicks a nearby tree in frustration and buries her head in her hands. When she looked through the gaps between her fingers, she saw something in the distance. To her, it looked like a small apocalyptic city.

When she narrowed her eyes so she could get a better view on the city, it now looked like some kind of ruins. It was the third set of ruins indeed. Cassie smiled. If she was going to meet Derek and Rowan, it was going to be there. Only one problem, the ruins were five miles away. She could run, but no doubt that Rowan would beat her there via truck.

"Oh well, if I I have to run there, then I guess I'm going to run there." She says before sprinting. Cassie had a sudden flashback. In high school, she was the second fastest kid on track. The fastest kid on track was a kid named Derek Lowell.

* * *

Down below the hill, Damian, Amir and Bishop continued to search for Cassie. They have already been warned by Rowan himself that if they didn't get back in their vehicles, then they would leave without them. Damian told them to go on while they continue to look. Rowan told Damian to keep his radio turned on for when he wanted to be picked up.

"Damian, this is hopeless, we are never going to find Cassie." Bishop complained. "Maybe we should just go back and call for pickup."

Damian was actually shocked by Bishop's complaint. Damian had warned him that if they wanted to give up and call in for pickup, then they are more than welcome to. "Fine then. Go on." He says very casually. "I won't stop you."

Amir swore that he saw a smirk on Damian's face that was somehow unnoticed by Bishop. It was clear that Damian was up to something, but he didn't know what. _Why did I sign up for this job?_ Amir was starting to have some regrets.

"Damian!" Bishop called while running up the hill. He points at something for Damian to see. Damian and Amir rush up to see what Bishop had spotted. It was none other than Cassie 'Davis' who was sprinting in the same direction that the pickup trucks took off in.

"Why hello there Cassie." Damian says sardonically. "We have much to talk about."

* * *

Back on the road, Damian, Amir, and Bishop watched as Cassie ran off in the distance. Damian shouldered his AK and took out a pair of binoculars. What he saw was Cassie sprinting like hell towards the ruins in the far distance.

"Gentlemen…" Damian said, putting his binoculars away. "...It seems we have a rat situation to deal with. There are two things you need to know Amir and Bishop. How to capture a rat and how to kill a rat." He grasps his rifle and cocks it.

* * *

Cassie jumped and slid down a hill, seeing as it was the fastest way to get down. Just behind her, Damian and his two cohorts followed, but they were out of her sight.

"Bishop, flank middle. Amir, flank right, I'll flank left." Damian ordered.

Cassie slowed down her sliding so she wouldn't go flying of this edge at the bottom. Then she felt being tackled from behind and she went sliding down the steep hill once more. Cassie screamed in pain as she felt the skin burn away as her skin slid against the rough grounds. Her skin was burning, she would be left with several burns, but none were permanent scars.

Cassie flips her attacker off of her before she climbs on him. It was Bishop, the mercenary who gave the journal to Gail to read. Cassie punches him in the face twice before elbowing him in the neck, almost knocking the wind out of him. Then, she looked ahead of her, they were about to slide off the cliff. Luckily, the mercenary who attacked was the one who stripped her of her grappling hook and piton, which he currently still carried on him. Cassie grabs her grappling hook at his waist and yanks it. Then she takes the piton from his ammo belt and jams it into the ground.

Cassie and Bishop went sliding right off the edge. Except the piton planted in the ground had stopped her from falling, but not Bishop. Cassie barely stopped at the edge with her head and chest dangling over the edge. "See you later buddy!"

* * *

Bishop howled in terror as he plunged to his death.

Damian and Amir watched as their associate went sliding to his death. Amir felt some sympathy for his ally, but Damian felt none. Damian did nothing but aim his gun at Cassie and fires.

"I'm really going to enjoy killing you Cassie." Damian says under his breath. "I will make sure you die a nice, slow and painful death." He already had plans for her.

Bullets hit the ground around Cassie. She was terrified at the sight to the point where she almost fell off the edge, but she held on tightly to the still planted piton in the ground. Jumping to her feet, she runs to the side to take cover behind a tree. Gunfire was still coming her way.

Damian and Amir jogged down the hill while reloading their weapons.

Since there was no gunfire, Cassie used this opportunity to identify who her attempted killers were and where she could run off to.

She runs off after getting a view of her attempted killers. It was Damian and one of the mercenaries that was restraining Derek: Amir.

"Let's tango." Cassie said. She was not going to be chased by Damian and Amir all the way to the ruins. She was going to take them out and frankly, she has had enough of Damian. Amir, he would most likely be pushed over the edge and to his death.

Cassie dives to the ground and behind a boulder after feeling a bullet whistle past her head. When she heard the sound of magazines being ejected from guns, she got up and made a run for it.

Damian and Amir, who just finished reloading their guns, lost sight of where Cassie was. They both growled in anger. However, Damian's growl sounded more like a lion angry for his prey escaping his wrath.

"Cassie! Come out come out wherever you are!" Damian sang. He now had the face of a cold blooded killer and Amir's blood turned cold.

"One, two, **Damian's** coming for you." He began singing once again loud enough for Cassie to hear. Even when hidden behind a tree and out of Damian's sight, Cassie still felt her blood turn cold upon hearing the sadistic killer singing the famous song from _A Nightmare on Elm Street._ He was torturing her with psychological warfare.

"Three, four, **come out I'm bored**. Five, six, **come fight this lunatic**. Seven, eight, **accept your fate**. Nine, ten, **I'ma drive you insane."**

Upon hearing the end of the song, Cassie picked up he closest weapon within reach, a branch. Cassie raised it above her head just as she saw something walk up beside her. Damian noticed too late and Cassie whacked him as hard as she could in the stomach. She proceeds to knee him in the jaw, which pushes him towards the edge. She had completely forgotten about Amir for a second however. He already had a gun raised to the back of her skull before she could turn.

* * *

 **First chapter since the prologue where Derek is absent. However in the prologue, his voice is heard, but makes no physical appearance. He will be absent for a while. Don't forget to review.**


	11. Tripwire

"On the ground." Amir ordered, but Cassie refused.

"Cassie, I would do what Amir says, otherwise I will cause utmost pain towards you." Damian threatened, getting up.

"Go kill yourself." Cassie said, not taking orders from either villain. She could already sense impatience in both Amir and Damian. She knew that if she wanted to survive this encounter, then she would have to act now. What to do was the real challenge.

Out of pure frustration, Amir jams the barrel of his assault rifle into the small of Cassie's back. Cassie fought to stay on her feet, not letting her legs buckle. While Damian was checking to see if he had ammo in his assault rifle, Cassie used this distraction to slap the barrel of the gun out of her back and attack Amir.

Damian noticed and cocked his rifle after he was satisfied with finding ammo in his magazine.

Cassie pushed the gun upwards and the barrel was right under Amir's jaw. She knees him in the groin, which causes him to bend forward and pull the trigger due to reflex. A single bullet cartridge was ejected. Brain matter shot out at the top of his head and drenched Cassie's forehead in blood. Cassie sntached the gun from the fingers of the lifeless Amir and she kicked his corpse to the ground. She snaps her head around and see Damian take aim at her head.

Cassie already had the gun aiming at Damian before he could even fire. She squeezed the trigger and four bullets went flying right out the barrel.

Damian spit out blood and dropped his assault rifle. Blood went spewing out his back from his stomach. He falls down on his side and begins to leak blood. He just lied there motionless, dead.

"See you in hell malefactor." Cassie said to the dead Damian. She lets out a long sigh and gazes at the two corpses. Once again, she had taken a life. Even in self-defense, killing would almost always haunt her. But in Damian's case, she was willing to make an exception.

"Now, if you'll excuse me Damian, I really have somewhere to be. Tell my old enemies I said hello." She said. Just as she collected his ammo magazines for her new assault rifle, she then notices something.

On Damian's stomach, there was four bullet holes in his shirt, yet there was only two holes in his back. "I shot him four times but only two bullets came out his back." She cast a look of confusion and oddness. "How is it possible that he had four holes in his stomach but only two holes in his back?" She asked herself. "Maybe two bullets didn't go all the way through." She speculated, or maybe she was hallucinating. _Yeah, two bullets didn't go all the way through._

 _Don't matter, as long as the bastard is dead,_ Cassie told herself. _Don't lose focus. Save Derek and stop Rowan._ She shoulders her new rifle and walks off into the direction of the ruins. Before she could put some distance between her and the two corpses, she quickly goes back and loots Damian's body for a walkie-talkie so she could listen in on any conversations between the mercenaries. What channel Rowan was using was not known to her.

"Don't lose focus Cassie. You can make a run for the ruins and you can make it there in less than thirty minutes if you get lucky."

Cassie once again makes a run for it, no longer needing to worry about any mercenaries chasing her down. However, just because she killed the three mercenaries that were hunting her did not mean she should let her guard down. _Always stay on high alert girl._

Seven minutes later, Cassie had only three miles left until she was at the ruins.

* * *

At a bridge not too far from Cassie's current location, there stood two mercenaries armed with explosives. After failing to hear a report from Damian, Rowan ordered two of his thugs to set up explosives at this bridge they crossed earlier. It was about fifty feet long, but was only twenty feet wide. It was the only bridge big enough for two cars to drive over one at a time. It also served as the only way to cross an abyss. Blow up the bridge, and you blow up the only way to get across the abyss and to the ruins.

A young mercenary and redheaded mercenary, both originating from Ireland, were setting up tripwires across the bridge. They had enough explosives to blow the entire bridge.

"Hey man, let's say this woman does come across here and the bridge does blow up, what then?" The redhead asks. "How are we going to get out of here? Mr. Rowan did say that this was the only way to cross the abyss."

The young mercenary looked up and answered. "He told us that he has a helicopter big enough to fit all of us inside. We don't need this bridge to leave." He ties a tripwire around a wooden bar. "Once we help Rowan get whatever he wants, we earn our money, two hundred thousand dollars and we get to do whatever we want with it." The young mercenary told.

The young man and redhead mercenary were kept in the dark about what Rowan was after exactly but it didn't matter. As long as Rowan paid them their money, they would do whatever. Money talks after all.

"What is it that Rowan wants? We have served him for two years and we still left in the dark." The redhead says.

"I don't really give a crap what he wants. Like I said, once Rowan gets whatever he want, we get money. The best thing about the job is that we don't need to know what is going on. We just do what we are told and that's it. End of story."

* * *

In the distance, Cassie gazed at ruins on the other side of an abyss that appeared to be fifty feet long. Cassie began analyzing her situation. _No branches so I can't swing across. I swear to god if I have to climb all the way down..._

Then she noticed a bridge a couple yards to her right. She narrows her eyes and leans forward. _It appears that Rowan left two guards on the bridge._ She slowly hides behind a tree and watches as the two mercenaries crouch down and out of sight for a brief second.

"Where did Tweedledee and Tweedledum go?" She whispers and as gets on her stomach and crawls towards the bridge. She makes sure to stay hidden in the tall grass and would move very slowly whenever she saw their heads turn in her direction.

* * *

"Alright, tripwire is set." The young man says, indicating the nearly invisible tripwire that was set up. "From that rail over there, to this rail." He was actually surprised the tripwire was enough to reach the ends of the bridge. "I've actually never seen a twenty foot long tripwire."

"I've have, in the armed forces." The redhead says. The explosive device was a landmine that was positioned in the center of the bridge. It was small, but a very powerful landmine connected to the tripwire. "Where does Rowan get his equipment?"

The young mercenary stared at his companion. "Are you serious." He said as a statement rather than a question. "Rowan is an international arms dealer." He explained. He grinds his teeth in frustration on how his friend did not know where Rowan got his weapons. "Of course Rowan would have some kind of explosive device in his possession."

* * *

"Of course Rowan would have some kind of explosive device in his possession." Cassie overheard. What the mercenary said about an explosive really alarmed her. It was then when she heard the young mercenary telling his redhead friend to watch out for the landmine.

"Oh shit." Cassie said as realization sank within her. "There's a bomb on the bridge. Holy crap," she said.

She crawled out from the tall grass and crawled onto the bridge while still on her stomach. The wood below her creaked against her body weight.

The young and redhead were already walking across the bridge and making sure to walk around the landmine in the center of the bridge.

They failed to hear the creaking of the wood.

"Thank you for letting me know about the bomb you sonofabitch." Cassie whispers. She watched at the end of the bridge as the two mercenaires quickly gathered their belongings as they walked away.

"Wait a second, if this is the only way into the abyss, then how will they get of here if it is blown up?" Cassie asked herself, making sure her voice was nothing but a whisper. Then she remembered something. It was something Rowan said back at Mesa Verde.

" _Call the pilot. Tell him to prepare a hostage chair."_

"He has a pilot of some sorts. That must be how he escaped Mesa Verde." She deduced. Then terror sank into her stomach. "If this bridge blows up, then he will most certainly escape via helicopter or plane or some kind of aircraft. Rowan would escape with a map to the Cold iron."

"Shit balls, I got to get to those ruins quickly." She then crawls faster across the bridge.

* * *

While walking away, the young mercenary mercenary got a call from Rowan on his walkie-talkie. "What is it Mr. Rowan?"

"I want you to blow up the bridge immediately." Rowan ordered.

"Yes sir, what made you change your mind?"

"I have not heard from Damian in the last ten minutes. Something must have come up, or Cassie killed him. Either way, I want the bridge blown up immediately. If Cassie is still alive, she will come for her friend and I refuse to let that happen."

"Roger that, we are going back to the bridge right now sir. You should expect an explosion in less than three minutes." The young mercenary put his radio away and turned to his redhead friend. "Hey ginger, we got to go back to the bridge, set the timer on the landmine. Mr. Rowan's orders."

The redhead nodded. He was about to protest but remembered what his friend told him about doing what Rowan said and they would be paid money. "What made him change his mind?"

"Doesn't want to take a chance with this woman." The young man answered. "Let's go set the time and disable the tripwire, we may need them for later." And with that, both men went walking back towards the bridge.

* * *

Cassie had already noticed the barely visible tripwire in front of her face, just inches from her nose. "Tripwire huh." She then identified the kind of tripwire it was. Unlike the regular ones that had to be cut in order to set off an explosion, this tripwire could set off an explosion just by touching it. It could literally be set off if the skin of your teeth touched it (which was a fancy way of saying that the slightest touch could set it off). Only certain countries like the US, China, India and Russia had this kind of tripwire. (Remember, this is set in the not-so-distant future. July of 2035)

Quickly getting up to her feet, she steps over the tripwire and goes back into a crawling position. It was then when she heard murmuring. She looks ahead and sees the two mercenaries from earlier walking back to the bridge. They both had shotguns in their hands.

Before they could see her, Cassie jumped to her feet and aimed her assault rifle at the two and shouted. "HEY! ASSHOLES!"

This certainly caught the two mercenaries' attention. When they noticed Cassie standing just at the opposite side of the bridge, they raised their shotguns and took aim.

"You know! You two are armed with shotguns, which is not so good with long distances! But assault rifles like this AK-47 is made for long distances!" She told them, which shook their faiths. "Plus, those are pump action! You have to constantly pump the shotgun! This AK however, you can fire without pumping!"

The young and redhead mercenaries still had their guns raised and finger on triggers, ready to fire but they were not confident that they would hit their target on the first try.

"How about this, you two throw your weapons over the edge and I won't fire at you?!" She suggests.

The redhead and young man gaze at each other before admitting defeat. The young mercenary hurls his gun over the edge and into the abyss below. The redhead copied his actions. Even though they had no big guns, they could still be armed with pistols so Cassie still had to keep her guard up.

"Disarm the landmine and maybe we can all get out here alive!" She orders.

The young and redhead mercenaries walk to the center of the bridge and began working their magic on the landmine. Cassie kept her gun right at their head and finger on trigger, ready to fire.

The young and redhead mercenaires made very sure to not blow themselves in the process. Then suddenly, they got an idea. Both men stared at each other and smirked. They quickly mouthed words to each other.

Young Man: You keep her distracted, I will set the timer and we both can make a run for it.

Redhead: Roger that.

Without thinking, the redhead mercenary threw himself forward and into Cassie's gut and knocked the gun out of her hand. The young man watched eagerly as his friend beat up the girl. He then set the timer on the landmine. "You have thirty seconds left to live." He says sadistically.


	12. Gun Barrel

Cassie heard what Young Man said quite loud and clear and it motivated her. She punches Redhead in the nose as hard as she could, twice. His head snapped back and he was staring at the sky. She then reaches for her AK-47 beside her and aims it at Redhead. She pulls the trigger and several bullets are pumped into his chest. He falls to the side and lies dead on the ground.

Upon hearing the gunshots, Young Man got up and ran for his life. There was already twenty-five seconds and he had to run twenty-five feet across the bridge.

Cassie was about to grab the bomb and throw it overboard but she decided against it at the very last moment. She shoulders her AK-47 before she made a run for it, chasing after Young Man. She steals one last look over her shoulder just as the timer had reached five. Young Man wasn't even off the bridge yet and neither was she. _I will survive._

Three…

Two…

One…

The landmine blows and the bridge collapses at the halfway point. Cassie felt the ground below her fall and her with it. Relying on instincts, she grips a wooden rail and hangs on for dear life. The ground was two thousand feet below her and she had no parachute. Cassie gasps for air and puts a foot on a rail below for balance. Slowly, she puts her other foot on another rail and begins climbing up the bridge. Then, the bridge began collapsing once again and Cassie lost her grip and went falling towards the ground.

Reaching for the nearest thing, she manages to grab hold of a handhold before the bridge finally loses it. She swings over to the wall in front of her and hits her stomach against the wall before falling once more, but like before, she managed to grab hold of a handhold, but with one hand.

Her stomach felt like gasoline was poured down her throat and set on fire from the inside out. Her face began turning red from the pain and she already felt losing her grip again, but she managed to keep it this time.

Just two thousand feet below her was the bridge. _There goes our only way out._ She grumbles in anger and she begins climbing up the rock wall, ignoring the pain in her stomach. And the protruding of her veins in her neck and wrists. "Man, why do I always get myself into these situations?" Why couldn't she just live a normal life? Go to school, graduate with a Bachelor's Degree and start a fulltime career, was that so hard? _I was not meant for a "normal" life. This whole treasure hunting thing is my "normal" life. I like how my life turned out._

Finally making it back to the top, she takes a moment to catch her breath. She was all out of fuel and her stomach was hurting really, really badly. She just needed a two minute rest. "No, I can't afford to sit around while Derek is in Rowan's hands." She tried standing, but ending up falling on the seat of her pants.

She took slow, deep breaths as she felt her breathing return to normal. She listened to nothing but the quiet and scenic sounds of nature. _Wait a second, it's quiet._ Something slammed into her mind like a fist into a punching bag. It was quiet, where was the young mercenary? The sudden epiphany made her alert. She knew that Young Man wasn't dead, she did not hear any blood curdling screams as the bridge plunged into the chasm, so he must be alive. The bigger question was, where was he?

She gets up on one knee and looks around her environment, making sure she was not going to be ambushed by anybody. _Especially that young mercenary guy._

Sensing no one in her environment, Cassie walks forward, following the footprints that at least six men had made in the mud. _Here we go._

* * *

The footprints had led Cassie right into another cave, but a bigger one than the previous one filled with rats. She had no angle head flashlight with her, but she did have good vision and keen ears and senses. Her mother taught her how to see in the dark. When they were little, they would play hide-and-seek in the dark and Cassie would always be the finder and she would have developed sharp senses.

Nothing had alerted her senses, so no danger. She already felt her shoulders starting to tense up from being on guard for a long time. Her sore shoulders began turning red, not from tensing up, but from the weight of the gun that was hanging on her shoulder. _Goddammit._ She felt something poke into her back, then her danger senses began tangling.

She had no idea how much longer she would last, her entire felt like exposed nerves. Her lip began quivering, and her breathing was shallow. There was something wrong with her, cause sweat was dripping down her face and getting into her eyes, nose and mouth, respectively. Her veins began protruding once more. Her heartbeat was slowing down drastically. Her eyelids were heavy to to point where she could not open them for one minute. Slowly, she descends down to one knee and using the rock wall beside her for support. _What is happening to me? What is happening to me? What...is…_

She now lied down on her stomach and began losing consciousness. With her jaw now on the ground, she saw a pair of boots standing in front of her through her eyelashes. Then she felt a pinch in her back and some kind of object fall down in front of him. A silver dart with a pink feather on the end. A tranquilizer dart. The person in front of her must have pulled it out of her back, which means she was drugged. Now she knows why she felt a poke in her back. She couldn't handle it anymore so she lost complete consciousness.

* * *

Cassie woke up, flying above Bosnia. It was like she was some kind of angel and she is flying to Heaven. What she saw in the clouds was the face of her mother, father, uncle and 'grandfather'. Then she was the face of Derek, his sweet beautiful face. His fair skin, hazel-brown eyes and curly brown hair. She reached out to try and touch him, before he moved out of view suddenly. After failing to reach out again, she begins falling to the ground. _Can't be real, must be tranquilizer dart. All a hallucination._

The ground was fifty thousand feet below her and as she fell closer and closer to the ground every inch. Staring at nothing but the sky above, she saw more images in the clouds as she fell through them. It was her past. In one cloud, she saw a snowy wasteland: Antarctica. Derek and herself went to Antarctica four years ago with her parents. Coincidentally, the little trip to Antarctica also helped on their application to the University of Hawaii in Maui college.

Then, in the Antarctica cloud, she saw the barrel of a gun being fired at her. It appeared to be the gun that belonged to...Damian.

In the second cloud she saw, it was her adventure in Djibouti three year ago. She went there to look for some kind of prehistoric object. Derek did not join her on the expedition however. And then she saw Damian's gun being aimed at her and fired.

In the third cloud, she saw herself on an adventure in Liechtenstein. She found a an ancient Catholic cross that was prehistoric, third century AD to be exact. And then she was Damian's gun fire at her once again.

In the fourth and final cloud, she saw the most odd thing yet. It was...her...in...Russia. She had never been to Russia before, never before in her entire life and all of a sudden, she saw herself climbing some snowy mountain in Russia. She has climbed the Rockies before, she climbed the Grand Canyon and most recently, Mesa Verde but never a snowy mountain in Russia. When she saw herself in the cloud, she looked to be somewhat older. Then something had hit her, this was the same image she saw four years ago on Easter Island. The exact same vision to a T.

"What the hell is going on?" She asks herself. Then she saw Damian's gun being pointed at her and once again, it fired. She felt no pain as the bullet pierced her in the stomach. No blood, no throbbing pain, no nothing. "What the hell is going on?!" Then something hit her, this drug must be the kind that the Early Slavs used to confuse their enemies. They most likely used this drug to somehow hide the Cold iron from the world. Whoever drugged her, Cassie speculated that they may be connected to the Cold iron. She'll ask once she is out of this dreamworld.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw that she was close to hitting the ground. Before she fell down, she saw one final vision. It was four years ago, at the senior prom. Cassie was sixteen turning seventeen and Derek was there with her. She was dressed in a nice and elegant red dress that covered her entire body, except her shoulders. The dress was off the shoulders anyways. Her high heels were shiny and very red. She wore her glasses and had her hair tied in a ponytail. She actually hates having her hair tied into a ponytail, but was willing to make an exception since it was prom.

Derek had come dressed in a very sharp outfit. He wore a suit with a flower tucked into his sweater vest pocket. His shoes were leather black and his belt and pants matched the color of his suit. The tie however, was red. She saw herself slow dancing with Derek, one of the things she was never going to forget in her life, ever. She felt a smile form on her face and a warmness in her heart. She was about to kiss Derek, but then she remembered the outcome, they didn't kiss at all. She had been disappointed when she failed to kiss Derek. She had a small crush on Derek in high school but when she turned seventeen, she knew her crush had turned into love. She truly loved Derek.

As if on cue, the gun reappeared and fired at her. This time, Cassie felt a sharp pain in her stomach, like three babies kicking her inside the womb. Before she could do anything however, she was about to land into the ground, but everything went black before she could.

* * *

"Wakey wakey." An eerie voice called out above her. Cassie jerked her eyes open and gazed at the person above her. A tall man surrounded by others. He looked to be middle aged and had pale skin and bone white hair and a hawk nose. The people surrounding him were all dressed in strange garb. Baggy clothing and hats that made them appear to be at least seven feet tall and on each of their shirts, had some kind of symbol. The Sun Wheel symbol. This symbol was one of the first swastikas ever to be found, being at least ten thousand years old. It meant good favor, victory in battle and good yields.

"Why hello there. You've been out for two hours. That drug must have really did a number on you." The white-haired man said. "My name is Baloz."

 _Baloz, that is a sea monster in Albanian mythology,_ she thought to herself. She said nothing as Baloz introduced the rest of his friends.

"We are the SunWheel Cult. We have been wondering, what are you two doing here?"

 _Did he say you two?_ That's when Cassie realized she was sitting in a chair and her back was against someone's. She looks over her shoulder and saw the back of the head of the the young mercenary. He had been captured as well.

"Are you here looking for the Cold iron?" Baloz demanded. "How many are there of you?" Baloz began bombarding Cassie and the young mercenary with all kinds of questions.

* * *

 **The dream thing was a reference to Indiana Jones and the Peril at Delphi. Don't forget to review my story. I appreciate you readers taking the time to read my story. The evolution of Cassie Drake.**


	13. Baloz

"If you do not answer me, I will give you another shot of that drug. It is something our ancestors used when they first arrived here in Bosnia." Baloz threatened.

"Who are you guys and what are you trying to do to us?" Cassie demanded answers, matching Baloz's tone. "Are your ancestors really the Early Slavs?"

Baloz smiled upon hearing these questions. He must have figured that if he wants answers from Cassie, then he must answer questions from her her. "Fair enough." He complied. "Like I said, we are the SunWheel Cult and we have made it our mission to defend the Cold iron from people like you and your friend."

Cassie shook her head and began explaining what was going on. "My name is Cassie D-" She was about to say her real name, until she remembered that the young mercenary and herself were sitting back-to-back. If the young mercenary found out Cassie's real name, then he would tell Rowan and then Rowan will most likely do some real harm to Derek. "My name is Cassie Davis and I am not here to steal the Cold iron."

"But you admit that you are here after the Cold iron, am I correct?" Baloz asked.

"Yes, but I am not trying to steal it. I am trying to keep it from falling into this guy's boss's hands." She said, gesturing the the young mercenary. He said nothing but mumbled, he had been gagged and unable to say anything. "I promise you guys, my intentions are good. This guy's intentions however…"

Baloz and the several cult members began murmuring amongst each other, contemplating on what to do with the two prisoners. Baloz had only one though, kill the two. They knew too much, at least they didn't see the pillars that was just behind the cult. _Those men on the surface have no clue that the pillars are hidden down here. Dumb bastards._

"Lugat, kill this man if that the case." Baloz ordered to the blond hair man.

 _His name is Lugat, all these guys have the names of monsters from Albanian mythology._ Cassie deduced that they are all Albanian, and their names are most likely codenames. "Please don't kill this defenceless man." She begged. Even though she knew that the young mercenary would kill her without blinking an eye, Cassie, like Derek, was not the kind of person who would allow a cold-blooded execution and would even go out of her way to save an enemy's life. Something she did in Iceland two years ago. She tried to save a man from burning to death.

"But you just said this man had bad intentions with the Cold iron." Baloz told.

"He does but, don't kill him. He is sitting here, tied up and unable to defend himself. You would be killing this man in cold blood. You would be a monster." _Not like he already is, he just drugged me and was about to kill me if he assumed I'd have evil intentions with the Cold iron. Plus he is named after a sea monster_

"Wait a second, if you tell me what you know about the Cold iron and the Early Slavs involvement, then I will answer whatever question you ask me." Cassie offered.

Baloz raised one of his thick eyebrows and smiled, displaying jagged teeth. One of his front teeth was missing however. "Okay then, I'll bite."

Baloz then began monologuing. "The Early Slavs created the Cold iron using magic from Wiccans in England. They used it to defeat their enemies and eventually, used it to dominate all of Europe. However, the Cold iron became too powerful for any of them to handle and they hid it away, only using when they had to. But, in 1099, the First Crusades had fought against the Early Slavs and defeated them, despite the Early Slavs having the Cold iron in their possession. The Early Slavs used all the Demons, Ghosts and Genies the Cold iron could summon but they still lost. The First Crusade, being the noble people they are, hid the Cold iron from the world and no one knows. Not even us. All nine of us are descendants of the Early Slavs themselves. It is our job to make sure that the Cold iron is never found until the time is right. We have never left this cave in all our lives. We live by eating cultists that have died. There used to be twenty-five of us, but now there is only nine of us. A dead corpse doesn't taste so bad as everyone assumes."

Upon hearing this shocking revelation, Cassie and the young mercenary said nothing at all. But when Cassie heard that they grew up in this cave, never leaving, she noticed that there was no female cultists in sight. Then she had pretty good idea as to what the cult was going to do to her. Make her a breeder.

When Baloz was down talking, he began asking Cassie questions about why she was in Bosnia, what she was going to do with the Cold iron once she found it before he changed the subject to something completely inappropriate.

"Which of us would you like to make love to?" Baloz said with a huge smile on his face, Cassie could already tell that this man was evil, despite his intentions being understandable, but not justifiable. He began leaning in close to her to steal a kiss from her.

Without thinking, she headbutted the man as hard as she could. He stumbled backwards and almost went falling to the ground until Lugat caught him. "This female has fire in her." He wipes his nose with the back of his hand before he orders two cultists named Kallikantzaros and Ora to untie Cassie and the young mercenary and take her to the 'shower room' so they could get cleaned up.

The so-called 'shower' was water coming in from the ceiling from a waterfall above them. When her hand touched the cold water, she recoiled and stared at Kallikantzaros and Ora in annoyance. They were going to force her to strip out of her clothes in shower. Both Kallikantzaros and Ora and even the young mercenary's eyes were bright with anticipation.

"Both of you, shower. Leave your clothes on the side for us to wash." The one called Kallikantzaros ordered before he and Ora walked off to give them some privacy. However, Cassie was not given any kind of privacy from the young mercenary, then again, he was not given any privacy from her either.

"You just had to blow the bridge." Cassie complained to the young mercenary.

"Sorry, Rowan's orders." The young mercenary said innocently, but Cassie detected no hint of remorse within him. She turned her back to him as she began stripping out of her clothes.

The young mercenary was not a perverted man, he did not watch as she stripped bare naked out of her clothes. He threw his clothes to the ground beside them and that is where Cassie also threw her clothes. Kallikantzaros and Ora collected their clothes and went to go wash them. They could have let them wear their clothes in the showers, but they did not want to take any chances. They could have had some kind of weapon sewn into the shirt.

They were not both completely naked and standing under the cold water. They however, did not look at each others naked bodies, they did, talk.

"What do you see in Rowan. Why are you working for a scumbag like him?" Cassie demanded to answer.

"Money talks." The young mercenary said, falling back on his philosophy he told his redheaded friend before he was killed. He seemed to be aware that his friend was dead, but showed no sign of remorse.

"We have to get out of here." Cassie says while washing her hair. The young mercenary eagerly listens to her. "We both are in this situation where both our lives could be taken by this crazy man. If we both want to get out of this hell-hole, then we must work together to escape. What do you say?" She was not putting full trust in the man.

"Trust must go both ways." The young mercenary pointed out. "You said your name was Cassie? My name is Gabriel. My friends call me Gabe."

"What do you enemies call you?" Cassie asked sarcastically.

"The mercenary is what they call me." Gabe answers. "Now that we both know each other's names, we have to find a way out of here."

"We sure do." _Once I get that journal with the Glagolitic script, I am tearing out the pages and dropping them into the abyss._ "We need to come up with a plan." _Once we escape, we are going back to being enemies._

"Alright, when we were tied up, I counted at least nine of those cultists punks and they have made it pretty clear that they have evil intentions. They were going to kill you in cold blood and then I had no doubt they were going to use me as a breeder. Turn me into some kind of prostitute."

Gabe's eyes widened.

"Keep it in your pants hotshot." Cassie told before continuing. "They stripped me of my weapons when they drugged me. Did they drug you?" He nods. "Alright, so we both have no weapons at all, so we are going to have to use our wits to take out all nine cultists."

"You know, we are in a cave and we could easily pick up a rock and use it as a weapon against these villains." Gabe suggested.

 _You are one to talk about villains Gabe._ "By the way, earlier, when I was adventuring into his cave, did you and Rowan make the footprints in the mud that led us here?"

"What are you talking about, Rowan did not take the cave, as a matter of a fact, he is still up there, still looking for the pillars."

Something in what Cassie said hit Cassie. If Rowan found the pillars, then he would have been gone. He found the ruins up on the surface, but not the pillars. _The pillars are down here, but I cannot let Gabe know this._

"Something on your mind Cassie?" Gabe asked, picking up on her facial expressions. For a split second, he looked down at her bare chest and smiled.

"Nothing, just thinking of nothing." Cassie lied, trying her hardest to keep a poker face but was unsuccessful. Gabe saw something glint in her eyes and he knew that she knew something.

"We should get out of the shower, I am already freezing." Cassie suggest. She covers her chest with her hands before walking out of the shower. Gabe kept his back turned as Cassie dressed back into her clothes that Kallikantzaros and Ora brought back. Once she was dressed back in her white henny and jeans. Since she lacked any kind of towel, she wagged her head like a dog.

When she was finished dressing, Gabe put on his clothes and followed Cassie as she followed Kallikantzaros and Ora to wherever they were leading her to. Cassie and Gabe were pushed into the center of a group of the nine cultists. They began muttering something in Albanian, a language that Cassie was not fluent in.

She did manage to pick on the names of the nine cultists. There was the leader, Baloz, the second-in-command, Lugat. Then there was Kallikantzaros, Ora, Fatit, Merkur, Perit, Tomor and Djall. They were all named after some kind of creature from Albanian mythology. Reasons for this were irrelevant at this point.

It was then when Cassie saw it, the third and final set of pillars in the center of the cave. _Now all I have to do is figure out a way to take out all nine of these jokers and trace over the script and then the Cold iron should be in my hands._ Adrenaline bgan to consume her. She clenches her fists as he gets ready to attack all nine of these cultists, along with Gabe.


	14. Stalagmite

Cassie punched the cultists named Djall and threw him into the inseparable duo of Kallikantzaros and Ora. Gabe lunges and tackles both Fatit and Merkur. Perit and Tomor went charging for Gabe while Lugat and Baloz aimed for Cassie.

Cassie felt a knuckle connect to her jaw and her head snapped back, but in the process, she punches her attacker even harder and knocks Lugat to the ground. Baloz threw a punch to Cassie's temple but she jerked her head back in time and kneed him in the stomach. She uppercuts him before she is grabbed from behind by Lugat.

Perit and Tomor were punching Gabe endlessly in the stomach to the point where he threw up on the floor. Some of the contents spilled onto Tomor's leg however. Djall, Kallikantzaros and Ora did nothing at they watched Cassie and Gabe get the life beaten out of them.

Cassie broke free from Lugat's grip and she punched him in the throat, knocking all the wind out of him. Baloz elbowed Cassie in the back of the head but she did not go down. She kicks him in the knee, knocking him to the ground before she punches him in the jaw.

Then Djall, Kallikantzaros and Ora went to go assist their leader.

Tomor punched Gabe once more in the belly before Perit dropped him to the ground. Fatit and Merkur took turns kicking the mercenary in the stomach.

With Cassie on the ground after being brutally punched by Kallikantzaros, she begins crawling away from them as fast as she could.

"Boss, which one of us goes first with her?" The voice belonging to Ora asked.

Upon hearing what Ora said, she crawled faster to where she could go. Then underneath a boulder in front of her was her AK-47. She gropes for it and pulls it out and rolls onto her back before firing blindly at the cultists.

Twelve bullets went pumping into both Kallikantzaros and Ora. Blood spilled from them before they collapsed to the ground, dead. Baloz, a recovered Lugat went ruishing for cover behind a boulder while the five other cultists went running for their lives and out of sight.

 _Run like the cowardly pieces of trash you are._ Then the one called Djall fired blindly at her while hiding in the shadows. A bullet missed her head by and inch and in return, she shoots at the shadows that Djall was firing from. After wasting seven bullets, she heard the collapse of a body. "Punks." Then she began wondering, where did Djall get the gun. _It must be Gabe's. Speaking of which, where is Gabe?_

Gabe was still lying on the floor, wounded badly. He had a wound protruding from his stomach, shows that the monsters did some serious damage to him. Keeping her gun at her side, she walks toward Gabe and puts a hand on his belly, nursing the wound. His skin had turned pale and he was coughing up blood. One of the cultists beating him up must have stabbed him with a knife. She began speculating that one of the cultists had a knife hidden in their shoes, which is why he was bleeding. For some reason, Cassie was saddened by his condition. She felt as if someone had stabbed _her_ in the chest and ripped out her heart. _Why do I care so much for this mercenary? He would kill me without blinking at all._

Then something blunt had struck her in the back of the head, before she knew it, her world was spinning rapidly. Despite it however, Cassie still managed to not fall down. The person who had struck her, Tomor, watched as Cassie managed to rise to her feet and face her.

This momentary distraction resulted in him getting a bullet up his skull. His skull snapped back and had exposed his boney forehead. He slouched over to the side and fell dead on the ground.

Cassie's vision was slowly, but surely coming back. From her point of view, the world was spinning as fast as helicopter propellers. But helicopter propellers do slowly come to a stop, and that is how she felt when her vision was slowly returning.

The trauma that was inflicted on her head had worn off, but left her in agony. Her tolerance for agony however, was high.

Then she felt being tackled by someone from behind and was shoved face first to the ground and dropping her gun. The person who attacked her was Lugat, one of the five Albanians still alive. Behind him were the other four Albanians, Baloz, Perit, Fatit and Merkur. They watched eagerly as Lugat began beating the life out of the girl. Baloz was actually concerned, his right-hand man was beating Cassie to death and his plan was to make her a breeder so they could have more cultists.

Baloz walked up to Lugat and put a hand on his shoulder. Lugat recoiled and looked at his boss. They then had a conversation in Albanian.

Baloz: "Çfarë dreqin mendoni se po bëni ?!" (What the hell do you think you're doing?)

Lugat: "Ajo vrau miqtë. Ajo duhet të paguajë." (She killed friends. She has to pay.)

Baloz: "Pse të vrasësh?" (Why kill?) "Le të shijojmë trupin e saj të ngrohtë." (Let's enjoy her warm body.) He smiled mischievously.

Cassie was still conscious and she had no idea what they were saying. She could speak twenty-six language fluently, but none of those languages were Albanian.

When the punching had stopped, she felt energy boiling up within her. Her gun was gone so she had to deal with these five cultists all by herself. An idea pops up in her head.

"Excuse me." She says in a hoarse voice. "How do you say sugar in your native language?"

Lugat and Baloz gap in confusion. What did this have to do with anything? Lugat, seeing no harm in it, decided to answer. "Sheqer."

She chuckles. _So these guys really are Albanians._ Using all of her strength, she punches Lugat as hard as she could and he falls flat on his back and off of her.

Baloz reacted too slow when Cassie got on her feet and attacked him. Baloz was punched and pushed backwards into Petit, Fatit and Merkur. Fatit and Merkur fell to the ground while Petit was shoved down a hole that went unnoticed by Cassie. She did hear a prolonged scream before it disappears into nothing. _He must have fallen to his death._

Cassie knees Baloz in the groin before shoving him on top of Fatit and Merkur.

When Merkur got up, he went to attack her, but she punched him in the gut and shoved him down the hole and to his death, doing the same with Fatit as soon as he attacked.

Cassie looks down the hole and sees that it is indeed a bottomless abyss. None of the corpses could be seen at all. They did indeed fall to their deaths.

Now, there was just Baloz and Lugat left alive, she was going to take care of them once and for all. In the corner of her eye, she saw a slowly dying Gabe on the ground, bleeding out. If she could take out Baloz and Lugat, then she can tend to his wounds.

Cassie rushes and punches Lugat in the jaw, he did not budge though. He punches Cassie in the gut and shoves her back. She kicks him in the groin before punching Baloz in the jaw, twisting his head in an unusual angle. He punches her in the temple before kicking her in the chest and sending her a few feet backwards. Lugat charges at her, but this is what Cassie wanted. As soon as Lugat was in reach, she actually kicked him in the jaw, which spun him around so his back was to her and he jumped on his and twisted his neck. A deafening crunch sound was heard and Lugat fell to the ground.

Baloz was enraged that he lost all his people, he was going to kill Cassie on the spot. Cassie had already anticipated Baloz's anger and she was going to use that to her advantage. When Baloz lunged and grabbed Cassie by the arms, he was getting ready to push her down the hole that killed the others, but Cassie punched him in the gut as hard as she could and grabbed his skull. Behind her was a small, but razor sharp stalagmite. Using all her strength, she hammers his skull right onto the sharp stalagmite. His entire head had pierced all the way through. Cassie let go of his corpse and backed away. She did not have to worry anymore because all nine cultists are officially dead. _Gabe._

She walks up to Gabe's side and puts pressure on his stomach wound. He was so weak to the point where he couldn't open his eyes. It was a sight that disturbed Cassie. "Wake up man, you'll be alright." She said more to herself rather than him. "You'll be alright." She repeats, this time she was most certainly talking to herself because deep down, she knew that his stomach wound was fatal and untreatable. And then just like that, Gabe gives his last breath and his eyes remained closed, forever.

"Oh crap," she curses at herself, but why was she sad? He was a mercenary who seemed to have no moral qualms with killing her. But she was the better person who would kill and feel remorse for her action. Killing Baloz however, would certainly not affect her.

She gets up and moves away from Gabe's corpse and walks towards the pillars she saw earlier. There was only two of them and they were identical to the first two in every way shape and form. She closes in on them and begins to read of the pillars, not forgetting a single detail. It would actually be much better if she had her journal with her, but right not it was in Rowan's possession. _Does that mean I have to go back to the surface and get the journal?_ Then she turns back at Gabe's corpse. He was a mercenary, surely he would have some kind of paper and pencil on him. _Right?_

Without a second though, she quickly loots his corpse and finds a pen and paper and she uses it to trace over the Glagolitic script. When both inscriptions were complete, she takes a moment to read them. 'The Unholy Calls For the Devil in the Pyramid' it read.

"Huh. 'The Unholy Calls For the Devil in the Pyramid' I wonder what that means." She says to herself. "The unholy thing is obviously the Cold iron calling the devil, but what pyramid is this thing talking about?" Then something in her mind clicks. Something Derek told her back in the jeep before their whole adventure started.

 _One of the most visited places in Bosnia is this place called the 'Pyramid of the Sun' which is a pyramid._

Suddenly, everything was becoming pieced together. "Of course. The Cold iron is in the Pyramid of the Sun. Derek man, thanks a lot." She smiles. "How did Baloz not know where the Cold iron was? Unless he lied."

She kisses the paper and folds it up before putting it in her pocket. "All right, if I want the whole picture, I will need the other two inscriptions then maybe it could help us in the pyramid." She look at the ceiling above, looking for a way out, seeing only one hold fifty feet above her that leads to the surface. "I'm going to save Derek, then stop Rowan." She retrieves her gun and some ammo, slugs it over her shoulder and walks to nearest wall and begins to climb. She took very cautious measures to make sure that each handhold and foothold was as solid as the other. Her father teaching her how to climb was probably one of the few things she learned from him that will stick with her forever. She remembered her favorite climb though, Mount Whitney.

Upon finally reaching the top, she stuck her head out and for the first time in a while, she was breathing fresh air. And in the distance, she could actually see Derek, tied up and sitting in one of the trucks with Jack and Gail by his side while Rowan and two mercenaries were searching around for clue. Things were going to get dicey. Real dicey. _I don't know why I'm surprised though._

* * *

 ** _Does anyone know what movie that line was from? An American is asking an Albanian "How do you say sugar in your language?" "Sheqer". I will give you a hint, it stars Liam Neeson._**


	15. The Train

"Where the hell is Damian, Amir, Bishop, Gabe and Rodney?" Jack asks two mercenaries. The two just shrug, having not heard anything from any of the five men. "Cassie Davis. As soon as I find her, I am going to strangle her to death."

"You know, instead of you finding her, she might find you." Derek tells while sitting in a helicopter that Rowan called. Rowan sat in the co-pilot's seat and was saying something to the pilot that Derek could not understand.

"You shut your loud mouth Lambert." Jack barks just before he feels Gail approach his side.

"Contain your anger Jack. Once we find the Cold iron, all's well that ends well." Gail proved to be the most patient villain of the group. No one was complaining however.

"Hey boys!" A voice boomed behind them. Gail and Jack turned around and saw Cassie 'Davis' standing near a tree with a blond mercenary on the ground with an AK-47 pointed at his head. "It's me, Cassie!" She cheers. Jack reached for his gun but Gail held up a hand, motioning for him to stop. Rowan had heard the commotion and climbed out the helicopter to see what was going on.

"Look who decided to show up." Rowan says, putting a single hand on his hip, indicating confidence in whatever he was planning.

"Give me the journal, along with Derek and blondie here won't get shot in his pretty face." She demands. Not a single mercenary moved a single muscle. It was then when she saw cracks forming on Rowan's face. Cracks that were forming a smile.

 _These guys can have her._ Rowan turns and signals for the pilot to switch on the helicopter, to which he reluctantly does.

Like a missile being launched from a battleship, a body slammed into Cassie's back and she went tumbling to the floor. There was a mercenary behind her that she did not notice. The mercenary was on top of her and he threw a punch. She blocks it and smashes her knuckles into the man, knocking him out cold instantly. The hostage mercenary charged at her, but she was already on her feet and she kicked the man in the neck, knocking the wind out of him and killing him. Now that she had no cover, she jumped over a waist high boulder and kept her head down as several bullets from the helicopter's direction went flying towards her. _Shit._

Gail, Jack and the two mercenaries (the two that Jack was talking to) board the helicopter just as it levels off. She decides to chance it and makes a run for it. Her AK-47 was shouldered and she jumped towards one of the landing skids and dangles. The helicopters lifts off and high above the ground to the point where trees were tiny. The shoulder strap to her gun broke and the AK-47 took a nose dive to the ground.

Cassie had calculated that the ground was at least five hundred feet below and she was hanging onto a helicopter landing skid by one hand. _Why do I always get into these situations?_ Using all her strength, she climbs into the helicopter and into the still open door.

One of the mercenaries noticed and smashed his foot down on her hand. She ignored the pain and hit him in the stomach with her head. That was followed with a punch to the jaw before she grabs him by the hair and pushes him onto Jack. The other mercenary drew a gun and aimed it at Cassie's head, but Derek who was sitting in the seat beside the mercenary, threw off his aim by striking the mercenary with his shoulder and a bullet went flying into the pilot's head.

The helicopter spun insanely out of control and started heading towards the ground, but the co-pilot, Rowan, had managed to keep it in the air long enough to not crash into any trees. Derek, who was fully aware of where the journal was, reaches into Gail back pocket and snatches it out.

The last thing Cassie saw before she fell out the helicopter, was Derek's hazel eyes. He reached out to try and save her but she still fell out the helicopter. Just when she thought she was going to fall forever, she landed on something. The helicopter wasn't even twelve feet above her and already she landed. She sits up, her back sore and realizes that she landed on top of a...moving train. A passenger train.

Derek had fallen out the helicopter and landed near Cassie on top of the train, but he managed to land on his feet instead of his back like Cassie. _Like a cat,_ she thought. But who else had fallen out of the helicopter was Gail and the two mercenaries.

Both Cassie and Derek thought that Jack was going to jump out until they saw the helicopter crash into several trees but if there was anymore damage that was done to the chopper, Cassie and Derek had failed to notice as the train moved away from the crash site.

"Cassie, are you alright?" Was the first thing that Derek asked as soon as he was within reach of Cassie.

"You know me." Cassie answered as he helped her up. "I always survive."

"Well so do I. And apparently so do these thugs." He looks at Gail and the two thugs who were slowly getting back on their feet. It took them awhile to adjust to the speed of the winds that struck them but Cassie had already calculated that the train was going at least nine miles per hour and they were standing on the roof with no safety equipment. One wrong move they would fall off and die upon impact. Derek puts the journal in his back pocket just as Gail spoke.

"You better give back that journal." Gail orders to the duo. "It's important in our search."

"It's important in our search as well asshole." Cassie announces. "Plus, your boss may be dead, just like Damian is. Why continue this quest?"

"Shut up and fight." Gail raised his hands, and so did the two mercenaries. They rushed through the winds and fought Cassie and Derek.

Cassie found it very hard to fight someone while on top of a train going ninety miles an hour. If the mercenary pushed her, she could fall off. She made sure her feet were firmly planted on the floor. She punches the mercenary in the gut and knees him in the jaw. She elbows twice in the chest and pushes him towards the edge. With only one kick, she knocks him off the speeding train.

Derek kicked his mercenary in the groin and punched him in the jaw. He traps the man in a Muay Thai clinch and begins kneeing him endlessly before striking him in the neck and pushing him off the train.

Now there was only Gail to deal with. Cassie threw the first punch at him, who surprisingly dodged it and kicked her in the side and knocking her back. Derek threw a kick but he caught it and struck him in the calf before throwing him back and almost off the moving train.

"This guy's good." Cassie says to Derek.

"I am well trained in aikido." Gail says happily and throws a brutal punch to Cassie's face, knocking her to floor. Derek rushes Gail but he was easily flipped over and on his side in less than two seconds.

"First time Cassie?" Gail asks with a sly smile. "In fighting someone like me I mean?" Gail stomps on her belly, hurting her badly.

"No, I have fought people worse than you before." Cassie answers half-serious, half-sarcastic. "Just the first time I am fighting someone as ugly as you." This earned her a kicked to the face.

Derek wrapped an arm around Gail's throat, but he only elbowed him in the crotch before flipping him over his shoulder. Cassie gets up and uppercuts Gail, but he jerked his head back in time and grabbed her elbow and yanked her to the side.

Instincts kicked in and she kicked Gail in the groin and Derek punched him successfully in the stomach. Cassie gets up on her feet and punches Gail in the face before she shoves him backwards and close to the edge.

Once the pain in his groin disappeared, he kicked Cassie in the stomach and gave himself some elbow room. He saw Derek incoming and kicked him in the jaw. Both Cassie and Derek almost went falling over the edge but they held their ground.

 _This guy is really tough, but not tough enough to take us both on,_ Cassie thinks. Cassie glances at Derek and smiles. He smiles back. They both had one though in their head: _CD Assault._ The CD Assault was a move they first came up with on Easter Island some years ago, it is when they both throw matching strikes at a tough opponent. If Cassie threw a punch at his jaw, Derek would throw a punch to his stomach. If Cassie kicked him in the groin, then Derek would kick the man in the neck.

Cassie and Derek rush at Gail and Cassie kicks Gail in the stomach so Derek kicks Gail in the jaw. She low blows him with her fist, he punches him in the jaw. She elbows him in his right shoulder, he elbows him in his left shoulder. They both punch him in the stomach at the same time before they both uppercut him. He dangles over the edge and was about to fall off, but he reaches for the nearest thing to hang onto, which was Cassie.

They both went falling off, but Derek caught Cassie's foot as they both fell. Gail lost his grip however.

Instead of falling to the ground ten feet below them, Cassie saw that the train was crossing a bridge and Gail was falling to the ground that was three thousand feet below them. The last they saw of Gail as he fell to his death, was him falling into fog and disappearing from sight. His blood curdling screams still rang in both of their ears.

Derek hauls Cassie upwards and she stares at him. Her adrenaline was slowly returning to normal and she took this moment to sit down. She was covered in all kinds of cuts and bruises, and Derek's physical condition matched hers.

"You alright? That was a pretty intense fight back there. The CD Assault always works am I right?" He sits down next to her. "Something on your mind?"

"No, just tired is all." Cassie answered.

"Well, we still need energy if we want to find the Cold iron." He takes out the journal and brandishes it to Cassie. "Sadly, there were no pillars at the ruins."

"There were no pillars at the ruins, but they were under the ruins." Cassie tells. She then began explaining what happened to her when she was in the caves. She left no detail out. "Those Albanians were guarding the last set of pillars. I got a tracing of the last inscription. We combine the notes and we should know where to go."

"Cassie you are a genius." He compliments. "But we gotta get off this train. I have a feeling that we are going in the opposite direction of wherever the Cold iron is."

"Yeah good idea." Cassie crawls to the edge and climbs through one of the windows on the side and she finds herself in an empty passenger car. Derek climbed through after and they made their way to a passenger car that was filled with…passengers.

Strangers were gazing at Cassie and Derek as if they were escaped convicts or something. They quickly took two empty seats and rest their feet.

"You know Derek, we should decipher these pages while we have the chance. Because our final destination is the Pyramid of the Sun." She whispers, not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention.

Derek leaned over and tapped a nearby woman on the hand. "Zdravo gospođice (Hello, miss). Samo sam se pitala kuda ide ovaj voz (I was just wondering where this train was going?)" He spoke in perfect Bosnia. The woman answered, saying that they were heading to Zenica.

Cassie already heard the answer and looked up on the electronic keypad on the seat in front of her, the distance from their current location to Zenica. "We are not too far off. Only twenty minutes." _Let's not forget we are currently stowaways._

"And from Zenica, we'll travel to the Pyramid of the Sun. It's in Visoko."

Cassie quickly typed in the distance between Zenica and Visoki. It was a thirty-six drive by car. "Okay, we could rent a car as soon as we get in Zenica and then we can drive to the Pyramid of the Sun, find the Cold iron and destroy it."

"Sounds so easy in theory." Derek says sarcastically. "But shall we combine all three inscriptions?"

Cassie nods. "Yes we shall."

* * *

 **In 'loving' memory of Gail Mitchell Murphy (2008- July 21, 2035). He feared heights, and he died by falling to his death.**


	16. Mercenary Hunt

The three inscriptions combined made out this:

 _The Unholy Calls For the Devil in the Pyramid. The Unholy Call, is a very special weapon, but when used unwisely, can have extremely dire consequences. Not only will demons be summoned, but they may attack you and be freed from the power of the Iron. Me, I am someone who greatly dislikes the Unholy Call for that purpose. I know nothing of its current whereabouts but I do know the Unholy Call is going to be hidden somewhere, and I drew a map for the people moving it. This map will help guide you through the extremely complex structure of the pyramid-like. Whoever finds this, may God have mercy on their soul if you find the Unholy Call._

Cassie had no idea who was writing, but decided it was irrelevant. What was relevant was the map that appeared to be drawn. It looked like a labyrinth but had arrows pointing in several directions as guides. These are vital in their final search for the Cold Iron, aka the Unholy Call.

"Man, whoever wrote this must be a real charmer." Cassie say to Derek.

"Yeah, but we should at least take his word that the 'Unholy Call' has dire consequences when used unwisely." Derek notes. "If there is one thing we learned both historical people's past and our past, alway trust someone when they say something has dire consequences."

"I heard that D-Man." Cassie says before the train shook to a violent stop. A person was on the loudspeaker, most likely the engineer or the conductor. They spoke Bosnia, but Cassie translated what he was saying in her head.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our final destinations, Zenica. We hope you had a good train ride and we hope to see you all again." The conductor most likely.

Cassie and Derek stepped off the train and into the city of Zenica. In the distance, the sun shined in her eyes, so she shielded them. Cassie looks at her watch and realizes that it was barely three o'clock. _How can it still be that early?_ She wondered.

Cassie and Derek speed walked out of there as soon as they saw the conductor. They did not want to get arrested for stowaway on a train. Their first mission was to look for a car to rent and from there, drive to Visoko.

* * *

Several cars pulled up to the corner. Three to be exact, all of them were SUVs. Seven men stepped out each one. One of the men was none other than Keenan Rowan, who survived the helicopter crash along with his remaining lieutenant, Jack. Rowan had a wound on his head, and that is now from when he hit his head on the dashboard. He got it from hitting his head against the wall upon helicopter impact. He now held a cloth to to nurse it. The nineteen thugs that were with him had saved him and Jack from the helicopter wreckage and drove him to the nearest town for medicine. Jack needed no medicine, he managed to survive the crash without a scratch, literally. These nineteen mercenaries were also the only mercenaries Rowan had left alive. Once they were gone, it was just him and Jack.

Rowan actually could not believe that men he hired were actually concerned for his well-being. _It looks like money can even buy friends_. Jack however, was his only friend who did not need to be paid for friendship. His loyalty was a natural one.

"Mr. Rowan?" A mercenary tapped him on the shoulder. "Would you like some water?" Rowan accepted the offer and siped down an entire bottle of water.

"Thank you Vlad." Rowan says in a sincere voice. He then calls out for several mercenaries. "Vinny, Jessup, Voorhees, Winter, over here."

The four mercenaries, Vinny, Jessup, Voorhees and Winter approached him and waited for whatever Rowan had to say. "I need you guys to do a recon of the city for me. My guess is that Cassie and her friend Derek have stumbled upon here. I want you to find them. You bring both of them back alive with the journal, I will personally pay each and every single one of you seven hundred million dollars." He promised. "Same goes for everybody else. But I will not be able to pay until I sell the Cold iron."

"Just make sure you have money for us." Vinny threatened and this earned him a glare from Jack, who assumed the role as Rowan's bodyguard. Vinny got the impression that he should have kept his mouth shut.

"You better be patient Vinny. Rowan here can also not pay you anything at all." Jack tells and Rowan smiles. The mercenaires that surrounded them laughed at their feud.

Vinny was about to lash out, until Jessup put a hand on his brother's shoulder and told him it was not worth it. Jessup had already recognized that they were in deep waters and Vinny's attitude was liable to make things worse. Vinny nodded, complying with his older brother's demands. "Alright then. Cassie and Derek are going to pay for what they did to me at the first ruins." Vinny was the thug who almost shot Cassie at the first set of ruin and he was determined to get back at her for humiliating him.

"If you kill her, I am not paying you anything." Rowan reminded.

Vinny once again glared at Rowan but said nothing. _Hell, me and my brother might even torture he both physically and sexually while we are at it._ Somehow, he though his brother was going to stop him _._

"Patience is a virtue." Jessup tells as he and Vinny walk off in one direction while Voorhees and Winter walk off in another direction. Rowan and Jack were left with fifteen mercenaries. One of the mercenaries named Gunther, had the good grace to buy tacos for everyone while they waited for Vinny, Jessup, Voorhees and Winter's return.

* * *

At a car dealership where people can rent cars, Cassie was talking to a an employee who worked there. A young man with curly blond hair. Derek was looking at which cars there were to rent.

"I will need your license." The employee told as he stood outside the main building with Cassie. He spoke in a slow, accented English.

"Here you go." Cassie hands him her license. He examines it througrougly. He was actually surprised that a customer like Cassie was not native to Bosnia and Herzegovina. He hid his disappointed look though.

"Where are you from originally?"

"I was born in Maui." Cassie answered.

"When's your date of birth?"

"June 6, 2014." Cassie knew what game he was playing. He did not trust an American so he was making sure that all her answers were as accurate as they were on her driver's license.

Derek found one red colored 4x4 jeep with a winch that interested him. He looks around to see if anyone was looking and when there wasn't, he climbs in and tests out the wheel. He couldn't turn it on so he pretended to be driving. It was then in the corner of his eyes, he spotted two people walking towards him, but not looking in his direction.

He already knew who they were. After the long day they've had, all he can say is he can tell a mercenary when he sees one. And he sees two mercenaries.

* * *

Vinny and Jessup walked very quietly along a set of cars, checking each one thoroughly. They both had Glock 19s tucked in their armpits holsters that were hidden underneath their jackets. If they were caught with guns, they would be locked up and the key would be thrown away.

Cassie must have sensed some kind of danger because she turned her head in the direction that Derek was looking in and she saw two people checking cars in a weird fashion.

Vinny made sure that his Glock 19 was hidden from even the most observant people that passed. Jessup told him not to worry, no one will know that they are mercenaries.

"But two people will know." Vinny reminds. "Our targets may shout out that we are you-know-what and we would be totally exposed."

Jessup remained calm however. "Don't get so hysterical. Once we find Cassie and Derek, all we have to do is silence them and bring them back to Rowan.

* * *

"I will be right back." Cassie told the employee and she walked up to Derek's position. "D'ya see those two guys?"

"You mean those two darked haired guys, of course I do." Derek answers.

"They're are Rowan's mercenaries." Cassie said. Cassie took a closer look at the mercenaries, remembering everything she sees about their faces. One of them (Vinny) had high cheekbones and the other (Jessup) had a narrow jaw and a scar that ran across his left eyebrow. "I think they are armed. You know the prisons here. You get caught with a gun and you will be locked up and the key will be thrown away."

"Definitely."

"Well, I see only two, but let's keep our guards up." Cassie squinted as the two mercenaries came forward, but they were still not looking in neither Cassie, nor Derek's position. "Okay, you see the one with the high cheekbones, I am going to distract that guy while you find some way to take out the other guy with the scar on his elbow."

"Got it."

Cassie walks forward very casually and past Vinny's position. Vinny had taken notice and followed her as she walked out the car dealership. She looked around to see if there were any more mercenaries. _Only two, just as I though. Rowan may be ruthless, but he was not dumb._ She knew that a cautious man like Rowan would send only two of his mercenaires out to look for someone, especially in public places.

Derek took this moment to walk towards Jessup with his fists balled up. _Shit, I can't knock this guy out. Not with that employee watching._

* * *

Vinny followed Cassie inside a nearby convenience store, where it was filled with people, making the chances of him abducting and/or killing her less likely.

Cassie walked in the women's restroom and waited to see if Vinny would follow. He stood outside the women's restroom and waited patiently for her to come out. When he heard multiple voice coming from inside, he suddenly felt claustrophobic. He backed as far away from the door as possible as several women came marching out, but none of them had blonde hair therefore, none of them were Cassie. He felt even more claustrophobic when a whole group of people had crowded around him. It was a social club arguing about something.

Cassie stepped out the women's restroom, expecting to see Vinny and instead, saw a whole group of people surrounding Vinny. She smiles and gets an idea. She taps one of them women and whispers something to her in Bosnian.

She jogs out of the restroom after hearing a loud slap. Cassie told the woman that Vinny was a man trying to kill her and she needed her to distract him while she makes her escape. In case she didn't believe, she told her to look for any signs of a gun on him. It worked out all too well when she physically slapped Vinny across the cheek. That was followed by a bunch of people screaming at him in a foreign language that he could not speak. One of them even called the police when they discovered his Glock 19.

* * *

Derek had it easier. All he had to was distract the employee while coming up with a way to knock out Jessup. Derek walked towards the employee and told him to check for any phone calls that the dealership received, saying that he is expecting a phone call from one of the employees. The man goes back inside and Derek walks up to Jessup's back.

He grabs Jessup by the hair and smashes his head against the hood of one of the cars. He was out cold in an instant and Derek kicked his body under one of the cars. He checked for dents and walked casually away as if nothing happened.

"Hey Derek." Cassie called as she walked towards him. "Took care of my mercenary. One of the people in the convenience store has called the police after discovering a weapon on him and I doubt they are letting him escape."

"My mercenary decided to make camp underneath one of the cars. If we get lucky, the smell of the gasoline and oil alone will wake him up." Derek tells.

"Okay, but anyway, where is that employee?"

"I needed him to look away, so I told him that I am expecting a phone call from one of the employees and he went inside to check the calls."

And speak of the devil, the employee came out with a disappointed look on his face. "Sorry mister, no phone calls."

"It don't matter. I will just call him myself." Derek tells him.

The employee turns back to Cassie and hands back her license. "So, which of these cars would you like to rent?"

Derek pointed to the red colored 4x4 jeep. "The one with the winch."

"Going somewhere off road?"

"As a matter a fact…" Cassie beings. "...we are. We're driving to the Pyramid of the Sun." She looks at Derek and see him casting a sour look. He was mentally telling her not to tell anyone where they were going. Rowan could easily buy information as if buying ice cream from a truck.

"How long will you have the jeep for?"

"One hour to two hours tops." Cassie begins walking towards the red colored 4x4 jeep.

"Well then, here are your keys. Bring it back in one piece and you won't be charged." He hands her a set of keys and Derek grabs them and climbs into the driver's seat.

"Like in Perucica, I am driving." Derek announces.

"Shoulda known." She climbs into the passenger seat and before they drove off, she saw several police cars pull up at the convenience store and several officers came out with Vinny in handcuffs. _See you later buddy_.


	17. Sewer Runners

Getting stuck in traffic was the last thing Cassie and Derek needed, especially since they were on such an important mission to save the world. Traffic was backed up three miles and the source of the traffic had never been confirmed, but Cassie saw several police cars drive up, so she thought either someone was harmed, or there was a crime in progress.

Even the traffic was not enough to stop Voorhees and Winter from searching the cars for their two desired targets with two more mercenaries helping them. Gunther and another one named Murat.

With Vinny and Jessup's defeat, that left only seventeen mercenaries.

Voorhees kept a Beretta 92F in a holster wrapped around his leg. He was a man who did not believe in killing with guns, but that did not mean he didn't believe in killing. He prefered to kill people with his bare hands. Plus, he has an edge because unknown to Winter, Gunther and Murat, Voorhees keeps his gun unloaded, therefore if his opponent got a hold of his weapon, he would not have to worry about getting shot. _A real killer doesn't use a gun, but his bare hands._

Cassie spotted the four mercenaries in the rearview mirror behind them. She warned Derek about them and they put their heads down. "I count at least four thugs on our tail, we got to do something about these guys." She whispers.

"Yeah no doubt, they are just as annoying as house flies." He responds. "We got to swat these flies away."

"That's some powerful metaphor D-Man." She looks to her right and sees nothing but an alleyway and that alleyway lead to a dead end. But she did notice something in the ground. "Look, a manhole."

"So, you want to go meet Leonardo and his adopted rat father, Splinter?"

"No dick head, we pull up into the alley and then we take to sewers to get to Visoko." She explains. "Plus, we would most certainly lose the mercenaires for a while."

Derek clenched his jaw and gave a slight nod. "Sounds like a plan, but you know once we turn into the alley, then the four mercs will notices?"

"All the more reason to hurry up."

Without a second's thought, Derek pulled the jeep into the alleyway. The four mercenaires noticed and all sported a look of confusion. They followed two things: their instincts and the jeep.

Cassie was already on the ground and lifting the manhole cover with Derek. As soon as the manhole cover was off, Derek dived feet first into the hole while Cassie used the ladder. She closed the manhole above her and climbed down.

When her feet touched down, her shoes became soaked in sewer water and the stench was unbearable. It smelled like a corpse was set on fire and for someone who has actually seen a corpses on fire at least two occasions…

"Cassie, you alright?" Derek asked as he spotted Cassie from the darkness. "Where are you?"

"Right here buddy." She calls out. She blindly reached for anything in front of her, she did not comprehend how insanely pitch black it was. Then she felt something like fabric in front of her.

"You're touching me." Derek's voice says through the darkness.

A smile formed on Cassie's lips. "Am I touching the right place?" She could feel the awkwardness within her friend.

"Yeah, you're touching my groin." Derek said. Cassie felt a wave of embarrassment hit her. She snatched her hand back.

"So how has your day been so far?" Cassie asked at the top of her head. She then heard some kind of shuffling noise. Then she felt hands groping at her waist and she heard the sound that could be mistaken for a stick rubbed against another stick.

An orange light illuminated Derek's face. What he held in his hand was Cassie's zippo, which was hidden beneath her grappling hook. The orange light had given off such a glow that it made Derek's skin look golden. "Hey Derek, is that my zippo?"

"You bet." He turns around slowly and Cassie's eyes follow the light like a moth to a porch light. Derek was holding the only possible light source in the sewers. Not even a single storm drain was above them and introducing them to light from outside.

* * *

Up above, Voorhees, Winter, Gunther and Murat search the jeep for the driver and passenger. Finding no evidence, they looked around to see where they could have gone.

"No windows for them to break through, no doors, no balconies for them climb, no nothing." Voorhees pointed out.

"What, so they just disappeared?"

"Seems that way Winter." Voorhees answered. He could not find a single clue as to where Cassie and Derek could have possibly gone. "But no one disappears without a reason."

"Maybe Cassie and Derek weren't even in the jeep." One of the mercenaries said. "Maybe it was a total stranger."

"No Murat, it was definitely Cassie and Derek, otherwise these passengers wouldn't have pulled a Harry Houdini on us." Voorhees justified. "Look around, there has to be some clue as to where they have gone."

"Hey sarge!" Gunther called. "Look at this." He points to a manhole cover. "Perhaps our friends took a nosedive into the sewers."

"Most likely Gunther." Voorhees bends down and with the assistance of Murat, he yanks the cover off the manhole. What lies below them was darkness...and a ladder. "Call in reinforcements." He ordered.

Murat took out his radio and called in Jack. "I think we found our targets. In the sewers, could use some backup, just a precaution."

"So, who's diving in first?" Voorhees asked.

"In your dreams Jason Voorhees." Gunther said.

"Not it." Murat said quickly.

Winter pointed. "How about you go first considering you're the sergeant of this group?"

Voorhees could not believe his men would rather sacrifice him than themselves. In all fairness, they were mercenaries. He throws up his hands in anger. "Fine then you goddamn bastards." Without the use of the ladder, he leaps feet first into the manhole.

Switching on his flashlight, he finds no sight of his desired targets. _Maybe they got eaten by alligators._ He moves out the way as Gunther jumps down into the manhole.

"Cozy." Gunther said. "This should be a perfect place for Jack and his-" He used a derogatory term for gays.

"You are horrible. Don't ever use that word in front of me." Voorhees said with venom in his voice. "You understand, because I can simply tell Jack about this."

Gunther raised his hands and his smiled dropped. "I am sorry for being so derogatory."

Winter and Murat then jumped down the hole. They left the manhole open for when Jack and another mercenary come down to assist them.

Murat switched on his light and scanned. "Where do we start?"

Voorhees looked around, he could see as a bat in this darkness. "Me and Winter are going down this path, you and Gunter go down there. Got it?"

Gunther tightened his grip on his gun as he spoke up. "What about Jack?"

Voorhees smiled as an idea rose up in his head. "You got a sharpie, a piece of chalk or something? Anyone?"

The others picked up on what he was trying to do.

"I have two sharpies." Gunther passed one to Voorhees, who wrote something on the wall.

 _Voorhees and Winter are going this way -_

 _Gunther and Murat are going this way -_

"Remember, since we are going in different directions, make sure he mark off where you are going so the backup knows where to go. Got it?" Voorhees said. "Alright, let's get a move on. If we find no one within two hours, then we meet back here."

"Sounds like a plan Jason Voorhees. A real good plan." He said nonchalantly rather than sarcastically.

"Stop calling me Jason, that's not my name!"

All of a sudden, he aims the gun and fires.

A bullet had almost hit Gunther's head, but it ricocheted off the wall behind him.

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Derek tapped Cassie on the shoulder. A gunshot echoed all throughout the sewer system. It eventually disappeared into nothing.

"Of course I did. I'm like a moth, I have advanced hearing." She responded, looking over her shoulder for any threat. "That sounded close."

"Too close." Derek added.

 _You call me that again and I will put a bullet through your eyeball, you got it Gunther!_ They heard someone shouting.

"I counted one voice shouting at someone named Gunther." Cassie said. "We have at least two mercenaires and given as we heard only one gunshot, they are carrying semi-automatic guns, most likely pistols. Most likely the same ones from the surface."

Derek clenched his jaw. "Well, good observation, but I believe that was supposed to be my line. I'm the observant one."

"Anyone can be observant."

Derek actually had a witty remark, but decided not to say anything. He did not want to sound condescending. Not even at the very least.

 _Alright, Winter, let's get a move on. Gunther, Murat, we will see you on the other side._ They heard the same voice, but it was more closer than ever.

"Four mercenaries, and two of them are going in the opposite direction of the other two." Cassie told. "Two against two, sounds fair."

"We can certainly use the guns to take out the other two mercs."

"Who needs a gun when you have the shadows to offer you protection?"

"Did you say, 'protection'?" Derek asked with a mischievous smile. His face turned red as if he was sunburned.

Cassie laughed a little and replied. "Your smile is not the only thing getting big."

* * *

"Remember, non-lethal kills only." Voorhees reminds. "We don't want the walls to be painted with their blood."

"But, we can make her scream...and moan." Winter was getting dirty thoughts.

"No, because she is women, we sell her for money." Voorhees said, disappointed. "But, once we have money, we can have as much women as we want. So let's find these two birds and put them in a cage."

Voorhees turned off his flashlight and put on a pair of night vision goggles. It was a good thing they both came prepared because it was as dark as space.

* * *

Derek closed his zippo and the two stayed hidden in the shadows. They waited patiently for the two mercenaries, the sergeant and the one called Winter. Surprisingly, they saw no flashlight beam dancing around the walls or any light source.

Cassie was crouching down keeping her back as close to the wall beside as possible. She could feel Derek's knee press into her side.

 _Where are they?_ Cassie squinted, her eyesight adjusting. _This is like a life and death version of hide-and-seek in the dark. And I love playing hide-and-seek in the dark._

Then in the dark, she saw something. A tiny light floating and walking towards them. When her natural night vision kicked in, she saw what it was: a cigarette hanging off the mouth of a man with some kind of goggles on.

 _Night vision goggles._ She taps Derek on the knee and leans in to whisper in his ear. "Night vision. Flashlights blinds them."

* * *

It was not Voorhees and Winter who Cassie and Derek saw, it was a man with wavy hair (Gunther) and another with light red hair (Murat).

Both of them were wearing night vision, but Gunther was the one with the cigarette in his mouth. During times of adrenaline like this, a cigarette is the one thing that truly called for him. He could not resist.

Just as Gunther looked to the right, he saw two figures sitting against the wall. He smiles and raises his gun. Murat

Cassie grabbed a wooden stick and set the very tip of it on fire with her zippo and held it up to Gunther's head.

Like the flip of a switch, Gunter's vision went from green to white instantly and agony set in. He howls and tears the goggles from head.

Derek charged at his gut and tackled him to the ground.

Cassie then put the tip to the stick to Murat, blinding him as well. He kicks him in the jaw before kicking him in the gut. As they fight, the flashlight beams dance uncontrollably on the walls, the floor and on the people.

Derek punches Gunther hard in the face, snatches hig gun from him and shoots him in the skull. Unfortunately, due to being in enclosed spaces during the gunshot, Derek, Cassie and Murat's are disoriented and their hearing is severely hurting.

Cassie opens her mouth as wide as she can and pushes her hand against her right ear. She staggers backwards and puts her head against the wall.

Derek fell over to the side and groaned in pain.

Murat collapsed to one knee and wheezed. He has never felt so much pain in his ear before. He may be deaf, but his will was strong. He picks up his pistol and, he literally took a shot in the dark. The second shot was just as much as pain.

If there was one thing that Cassie was so sure of, despite her severely and temporarily damaged hearing, it was she heard another gunshot and she heard no ricochet. And then she felt an agonizing pain in her shoulder.

* * *

The whole deafness from firing in enclosed spaces was taken from the first episode of _The Walking Dead._ In reality, if you fired a gun in tight and enclosed areas, you will be disoritened and temporally deafened because the loud sounds will be echoing off the walls.


	18. Weaponized Piton

The pain made Cassie feel lightheaded. A bullet had punctured the flesh of her shoulder. Luckily, it was nothing but a flesh wound.

Derek reaches and grabs the stick set on fire and swings it at Murat, despite still having his hearing severed. The stick hits Murat in the gut and sets his shirt on fire.

Cassie musters whatever strength she still has and charges at Murat, making sure to avoid his shirt. Murat lands on his back in the water, which extinguishes the flames, with Cassie on top of him.

Cassie shoves his head underneath a small puddle of water, sucking away his oxygen. Murat kicks and screams, but it all ends up unsuccessful. Cassie continues to hold him underwater, waiting for him to drown.

Once Murat's arms stopped thrashing and his head stopped struggling, he let out his last air of bubbles.

Cassie sighs and crawls away from Murat's corpse and towards the stick for illumination. "What a dick." She massages her shoulder. The pain in her shoulder disappeared completely, but she was still bleeding. It was nothing serious, it was about the same kind of gunshot wound her father received on his Iram of the Pillars adventures.

"Y'all right?" Derek asked, taking concern. He stands up and walks away from Gunther's corpse. He checks Gunther's gun to see how many bullets he still had.

"I'm fine, it stings a little but nothing I can't live with." Cassie grabbed Murat's gun. She checked and discovered that the gun had only nine bullets left. "I have nine, how many bullets do you have?"

"Eight, which equals seventeen bullets all together." Derek calculated.

"I already know that D-Man. You basically told me a fairytale I already heard." Cassie cocks the gun and tucks it in the back of her pants. She proceeds to pick up the stick, which was still flaming and began walking back in their original direction.'

"See ya fellas." Derek says one last time to the corpses of Gunther and Murat. "Cheerio."

* * *

At the manhole, Jack and a familiar mercenary stood. Jack dove in first and then the mercenary, who proceeded to close the manhole above him.

Jack shines a flashlight into the mercenary's face. "It looks like Voorhees and his boys left paths for us to follow." He said, noticing the four mercenaires' names on the wall. "So, which way do we go, Voorhees and Winter, or Gunther and Murat?"

"The roll of a dice basically." The mercenary said in a thick Irish accent. "Either way, I am going to find Cassie and I am going to make her bleed." The light reflected off of the mercenary's jagged teeth.

Jack put a hand on the mercenary's shoulder. "Contain your anger for when we get her."

"She shoots me and then leaves me for dead? She should have chopped off my head just for insurance." The mercenary took out a large knife. "In Perucica, I failed at my mission, but I will not fail now. Not when I have a new set of motives."

"Remember man, orders still stand, understand?"

The mercenary was furious, but he still believed in orders. "I understand Jackie. By the way, where is Gail, I haven't seen nor heard from him in a long time?"

Jack was unaware of Gail's current fate. "All I know is he fell out of the helicopter and onto a train with Cassie and Derek. Given as to how we have not heard nor seen him, maybe he was pushed off."

Jack looked at the mercenary's bandage on his abdomen. "How your wound?"

The mercenary shrugged as if he were told a question he had a sarcastic response to. "My belly is hurting, but I will manage. I have endured worse, but we are not here to talk in health and medicine, we are here to hunt Cassie and Derek." He growls. "I want Cassie though, I want to cause her real pain, especially after she shot me in the stomach."

* * *

"Follow the gunshots." Voorhees ordered. "I swear it came from Murat and Gunther's direction. I am calling them in, check to see if they haven't killed the targets." He yanks out his radio and calls Murat. He gets no response from neither Murat nor Gunther. "Someone must be afraid of sewer alligators."

Winter cast him an annoyed look."There are no alligators in Bosnia."

"I know that, you got what I meant though." Voorhees exclaimed. "You're as stupid as Patrick Star from that one American TV show."

"Why so serious Voorhees? Why so serious?"

* * *

Cassie and Derek came upon a gate. Cassie wrapped her fingers around the bars and started pulling. Having achieved no success, she asks Derek for help. Even with their combined strength, the gate still did not open.

Cassie grinds her teeth in frustration. "Well, this is bullcrap."

"I'll say."

Cassie looked to see where the screws were. And then her keen senses picked up on something. She heard a distinct footstep. She knew it was not Derek because he was packing rhythmicality behind her. His footsteps were painfully predictable. This single footstep that she heard was not regular and not predictable. Plus, it sounded far away.

"Stop moving man, and get ready with that ignited stick." Cassie whispers, sensing a major threat. She crouches down and glances into the dark tunnel. Like before, she was two individuals with night vision goggles. _Boy they in for a surprise._

Derek whacks one of the men in the face with the stick, hurting him badly. "YAAHH!" He screams in agony and crashes into his companion. His screams still echoed throughout the tunnels.

Cassie took her gun and smacked the first one in the head, knocking him out cold. She then proceeds to kick the second one in the gut before delivering a finishing blow to the jaw with the butt of her pistol.

The first one was not exactly knocked out, but he was injured badly and his head was spinning baldy. While lying on his back, and having dropped his gun and unable to find it, takes out his knife and grinds his teeth, waiting for Cassie to come closer to him.

"We got them again." Derek cheers. Then like a missile being launched from a sub, a body crashes into him from behind and he drops the fire stick. Cassie heard the scuffle and turned around. She ended up getting tackled by another.

Derek's assailant punched him as hard as he could in the jaw. Then he hammered his fist into his stomach numerous times, not stopping for any reason. "It's me again."

Cassie's assailant put their hands around her throat and began squeezing. The oxygen from Cassie was being stolen from her. "I see you are still weak Cassie. You are going to regret making that helicopter crash with me inside." He punches her, but Cassie already anticipated it as if it were scripted. She catches his fist with her left hand and punches her assailant in the jaw with her right hand.

Using her strength, she thrusts her hips upwards, causing the assailant to lose his balance and fall forward. Cassie shoved his legs off of her and got back to her feet while taking deep breaths. She could not see the assailant's face, but she knew for a fact that he was Jack. She kicks him in the jaw before he could even get up.

Derek's assailant pulled out a knife and prepared to stab Derek in the stomach, and then he felt something heavy kick him in the temple and knock him off of Derek.

Derek gets up to his feet immediately, ignoring the pain in his face and charges at his assailant.

Voorhees tightened his grip on his knife and sat up as he watched through his night vision as Jack and the other mercenary were getting beat up. Winter wakes up beside him and gazes at the fight.

Jack punches Cassie in the gut, but his punch fell short and he struck her in the kneecap, hurting himself more than hurting Cassie. He then felt a shoe connect to his neck and his vision blur right before his eyes. He collapses backwards and into a puddle of sewer water.

Voorhees went to slash Cassie, but he missed his target by an inch.

Cassie reached for her piton and stabbed Voorhees in the chest with it. He howls in pain and headbutts Cassie in the nose. He then successfully uppercuts her, knocking her back a few feet. He was now driven by rage for his own incompetence to simply capture a target. He took the piton out of his chest and hurls it to the floor.

Derek was overpowered by his attacker and he ended up in a headlock, unable to break free. His attacker acted as if he was fighting a brother...a brother he hated. The more Derek struggled, the more he squeezed, he thought he was going to pop out his eyes.

"Cassie Davis, stop fighting now or else I kill Derek Lambert here." Derek's hostage taker said loud enough for Cassie to hear. She was about to continue to fight, but she stopped at the very last second. That Irish accent sounded familiar though.

"Okay, I am not longer offering any resistance." Cassie said, raising her hands. "I will surrender if you don't hurt Derek."

A flashlight from behind Derek and his hostage taker shined. It was coming from Jack. She saw Jack's face, she saw Voorhees's angry face and she saw an injured Winter on the ground. The only face she did not see was the hostage taker. It was like in those interviews when people want to remain anonymous.

"You know what, I decided something else, it is going to take a lot more than just surrendering. If you don't want to hear Derek's neck snap, then take off your clothes."

All of Voorhees's anger turned to something else. Winter, albeit injured, smiled at this idea as if the pain didn't exist in himself. Jack's expression remained neutral, which was not really surprising since he is gay.

"You want me to take off my clothes, are you goddamn serious?" Cassie asked, unable to believe what she was hearing?

"Yep, and Derek will be forced to watch. If he doesn't, then I will cause some serious damage to the both of you." The hostage taker said. There was something familiar in his personality to Cassie.

Derek's eyes widened in horror. If he saw Cassie naked, then he was going to pass out. It happened in Iceland and at the college. It was an unnatural phenomenon, but Cassie knows that he passes out from seeing 'her'.

Cassie stares at the floor, certain that harm will come towards him. Hoping that something will come up, she proceeds to remove her white henny. Just as her belly was exposed, she noticed her piton at her feet. It was hidden from the villains in the darkness since the flashlight only shined on her upper body. She hatches a plan inside her head. Once she pulled her shirt over her head, she was completely naked from the waist up, having no bra on.

As predicted, Derek fell asleep in the hostage taker's arms. Cassie uses this moment to reach down, pretending to undo her pants, and grabs the piton, which was still stained with blood. She looks up one last time to check to make sure none of the men had guns on them. _Of course not, they know not to shoot a gun in enclosed spaces where the gunshot could echo off the walls and disorient all of them._

The hostage taker looks at the sleeping Derek in his hands before he felt something pierce him in the chest. He yells in pain before being kicked in the throat by Cassie, dropping Derek to the ground. Jack reached for any weapon at his disposal, but failed when Cassie elbowed him in the face. The flashlight fell to the ground and burst upon impact, sending the people back into darkness. Voorhees attacked Cassie from behind, but he ended up getting a kick in the groin. She shoves him into Winter after snatching his knife. She throws the knife in Voorhees's direction.

 _If you want to kill someone quietly, use a knife._

* * *

 **I am updating this story on the very special occasion of** _ **The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead.**_ **I saw both the season eight finale of TWD and the season four premiere of FTWD tonight, they are both very good episodes** _ **.**_ **This chapter is dedicated to** _ **The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead fans.**_

 **Kill the dead, fear the living.**


	19. Vision Come True

Winter gasped and clutched his chest as he fell over, dead. The knife missed Voorhees, but it was not a total loss. Voorhees dodging the knife gave the quick thinking Cassie more than enough time to cook up a plan. Cassie kicks Voorhees in the jaw one last time before being slapped across the cheek. She proceeded to kick him as hard as she could in his throat, knocking the wind out of him. His eyes widen in horror as he realizes his fate, staggering backwards, gasping and slowly falling to the ground. Cassie already knew it, Voorhees was dead before he even hit the ground. With him dead, that left only Jack and the other mercenary.

She turned and picked up her shirt and placed it back on. Derek was at her feet and his mouth had blood leaking from his lower lip. A new flashlight beam was aimed at her. When she looked up to see Jack, she saw a familiar face.

"Damian?" Cassie gasps in horror as she realizes that Damian O'Brien is still alive.

"Surprised to see me?" Damian asks, not bothering to hide his smile at all. His face looked just like she left it in Perucica. "If I were you, I would surely be surprised as shit to see you."

"I shot you. It's impossible that you are still alive." She knew this was not supernatural.

"No it's not." He tucked his hands in his pockets, relaxing and speaking casually. "I was wearing body armor. It was not bulletproof one hundred percent but it stopped two out of four bullets from tearing my insides. The body armor even slowed the bullets down, saving my life, sadly they did not exit my back cleanly."

"I was hoping you would get an infection and die off." Cassie told, hoping to sound fearless. Truth was, she was afraid of the things Damian planned to inflict on her. She has encountered his kind before, and that is what makes men like Damian predictable. "I had a feeling you were alive, because I saw you in a vision. You were alive and standing in front of me like you are right now." She remembered what she saw when those Albanians drugged her. She did not tell him how he aimed a gun barrel at her and pulled the trigger.

But the vision came true.

Damian had a gun trained on Cassie before Derek could even get to his feet. "Listen Damian, don't hurt Cassie. Hurt me. Torture me, but don't hurt Cassie." He begs, hoping that Damian would puncture him with the bullet instead of Cassie.

"Too late, already made a choice and I am sticking to that choice." Damian rebutts. "But we will keep you alive so you can watch what we are going to do to her. Me and Jack both."

"You touch her and I will kill you." He growled like a lion. Like a real man protecting someone other than himself.

"Impossible, because we will snap your spine right in half if you try anything stupid. Trust me, I've broken a man's spine before. It was such a sight for sore eyes." He belly laughs like a maniac, but he did not lower his gun a single bit.

* * *

Damian had survived the gunshot wounds, but he managed to acquire a brutal infection. Gasping for air, he keeps one hand on his stomach while the other on his spare pistol. Out of frustration and humiliation, he kicks Amir's corpse down the steep hill and it slides off the cliff, joining Bishop at the very bottom. "Bitch couldn't even hold a girl at gunpoint." He balls up his fists in pure anger, as if he was squeezing the air within his hands. "As soon as I regroup with the others, I am going to cause Davis as much pain and humiliation as I possibly can."

Several hours later, when he was making his way back to Rowan's last known location, he found that the bridge was destroyed and fell into the chasm. He was not confused as to what happened, Cassie sabotaged Gabe and Rodney's bomb plan with the bridge. How was he going to get back to Rowan? _Goddamnit, can't anything be easier anymore?_ He clutches his stomach, trying his hardest to stop the wound from bleeding.

Then, the most weirdest thing happened: An AK-47 fell from the sky and at his feet, breaking upon impact. Confused and curious, he looks up and sees a helicopter overhead and someone hanging from one of the landing skids. He knew exactly who this was. "Cassie Davis, I found you."

He trailed the helicopter and found it crashed near the train tracks. He pulled Rowan and Jack out and kissed Jack, missing him deeply. Rowan had no reaction, not surprised he had returned. The first thing Rowan asked of Damian was "Why didn't you arrive sooner?" Damian asked where the others were and was answered, being told that Gale fell on the train with Cassie and Derek and the other two mercenaries.

"Cassie is still alive, good."

"What happened to you? I was starting to fear the worst." Jack asked.

"I was shot, but my body armor saved my life."

Then Damian and Jack kissed again. Rowan witnessed, but didn't care.

* * *

"Step out the way Derek." Jack ordered. "Damian here is on extreme edge and I doubt you would like to see him on his furious side. The last person who pissed him off ended up with half a head." He takes a step closer towards Derek. "Move or else Damian will show you some real agony."

Cassie was not going to humor neither Jack or Gale for a single second. She looks around for some kind of weapon, and sees the knife still lodged deep within Winter's chest. If she could have Derek distract the two, she could reach the knife and throw it at the villains. Before she could even plan, Derek rushed them and tackled both men to the ground. The flashlight fell to the ground, but did not bust this time. The beam just aimed at the wall and the others were encoated in darkness.

Cassie used her natural night vision to seek and destroy.

Cassie dives for the knife, yanking it out of Winter's chest and throws it at Jack as soon as Derek cleared the path. Jack howled in pain upon feeling the knife go deep into his throat. He tries his hardest to pull it out but it was like trying to lift a car.

He drowns in his own blood and falls over, dead this time. The gurgles he made proved it.

Damian kicked Derek off of him to see the most horrifying sight imaginable. Jack was truly confirmed dead. "NO!" He charges at Cassie and brutally punches her in the face, knocking a tooth out of her. "That's for Jack!" He hammers her in the stomach. "For Gunther and Murat!" He elbows her in the throat. "For Winter and Voorhees." He then pins her down to the ground and growls. "This is for me." He wraps his arms around her and begins squeezing the life out of her. "Those people you have killed, they are going to Hell because of you and they are going to Hell with their killer unpunished. I don't believe in God, but I do believe in Heaven and Hell and now, I'm going to send you to Hell for killing Jack!" He had truly hit rock bottom. _If only he hit rock bottom in reality,_ Cassie thought, despite being strangled on the floor.

A gunshot rang out and Damian's head explodes, blood spilling on Cassie's forehead. Cassie's blinks in surprise. She yells in pain as her ears rang painfully. Like when the first gunshot rang off when Derek killed Gunther. She waits for her breathing to return back to normal before she leans her head to the right. Her back was hammering against the cold ground like a sledgehammer.

Derek acquired a pistol off one of the mercenaries and he was crying out in pain for the same reason Cassie was. Damian's body falls off of Cassie and into a puddle of water. She waits one more second for her ringing to come back before she gets up to wipe Damian's blood off and finally speak to Derek.

"Thank you Derek for saving me. At the cost of my ears." She says, grateful for Derek's good deed. "How am I going to repay you?"

"By giving me a back massage, as soon as we get out of this sewer system."

Cassie knew he was being serious because he had no cracked smile on his face, but she still found him to be amusing.

She cracks her knuckles on both hands, preparing for whatever dangers lie ahead next in their adventure. She takes one last look at the corpses of both Jack and Damian before she face Derek. "Three down, one to go. Let's get back to the surface."

* * *

 **Sorry for the shortness of this chapter. At least Damian and Jack are dead.**

 **In loving memory of Damian Daniel O'Brien (1996-July 21, 2035)**

 **In loving memory of Jack Walsh (2009-July 21, 2035)**

 **The two will be reunited in Hell**

 **AN: I am also in the process of writing a new five chapter story. That is all I can say though. It is completely new and not related to my _Uncharted_ , _Last_ _of_ _Us_ or _Tomb_ _Raider_ fanfics.**


	20. Pale Passengers

Climbing out of the sewers and making it back to their jeep, Cassie jumps into the driver's seat, but Derek persuades her to sit in the passenger seat. She was quite annoyed, but obliges to her friend's wish and allows him to drive the car. Traffic had cleared up and it allowed them to drive to the pyramid this time. Getting to the pyramid was not the challenge, getting inside the pyramid and following the right path was the supreme ordeal of their hero's journey.

"Let's hope Rowan doesn't arrive at the pyramid in time," Cassie says to the driving Derek with optimism. "We don't want him to get the Cold iron."

"Yeah, does he know about the pyramid holding the Cold iron or not?" Derek asked with uncertainty. Something in the corner of his eye catches his attention: through the ocean of cars behind him, there was a black jeep trailing him. Who sat in the back of the jeep were four people.

"We got company."

Cassie wanted to look over her shoulder, but instincts convinced her to look in the rearview mirror instead. She definitely saw the four people and they definitely saw her. Frustrated, she sighs and turns to Derek. "Let's lose these Level 10 assholes."

Derek clutches the wheel hard. "They may not even be Rowan's goons." He was not confidant in his words and Cassie detected it like a lie detector.

Cassie looked at him, her mouth a perfect O shape. "Are you serious? Do you really want to risk it?" She asks in a teenage sassy way.

"Cheeky bastard," he mumbled, but recognized the potential threat that Cassie saw. They did not survive this far to die now and they are not going to let that arms dealer win. "Let's take an alternate route to the pyramid, lose them on the way."

Cassie's hand hangs out the window and dangles like a swingset. She licked the ceiling of her mouth and told Derek to make a right on the next turn. Derek waits for his moment before making a sharp turn at a four-way intersection. He matched the speed of the vehicles that were directly beside him as he began his drive onto the freeway.

"The jeep is still following us," Cassie pointed out, grunting annoyingly. "Those bastards just won't give up."

"I'm going to take another turn up here, get us on more confusing routes."

"Anything to try and get us away from those guys."

The badguy jeep caught up to them and matched their speed, so the two vehicles were side-by-side. They were on Derek's side, so the passenger of their jeep was staring intensely at Derek. Cassie looks and sees the four people. One driver and three passengers, all had pale skin and they were all strangely staring at her rather than the both of them.

Cassie squinted, trying to get a better look at these guys and got a close up of the front seat passenger's face. Something was oddly familiar with him. She felt as if she met the passenger at some point but she could not remember. Then she saw that the passenger had a bruise on his nose. Seeing such a familiar injury opened up her mind.

She felt her heart sank to her stomach like the _Titanic_.

Djall.

"Step on it Derek!" She nearly screamed Derek's ear off. "It's not Rowan, it's one of the Albanians!"

Derek's mouth went agape and sped up a little, trying to speed up a little while avoiding hitting any cars.

"Where are you going?" Djall shouted from his car. "En, step on it! Verbti, Ljubi, get ready to snatch and grab them." The Albanian didn't plan on snatching and grabbing them, they were going to chase them until they ran out of fuel or until they got the drop on them. Djall had no intention of sparing either of them. Not Cassie or whoever her boyfriend driver was.

"The Albanians from the cave?" Derek asked.

"Yes, the only one who seems to have survived. Him and the other three that I don't recognize," Cassie said. "They are out for blood because I killed everyone in that cave." She smashes her hands against the dashboard. "We have to get out of here!"

"I'll see if I can lose them."

"Good because these guys are both cannibals and rapists." She looks back and sees the jeep once more. "It appears they are still on our tail. With any luck, these guys are as slow as a snail and will never be able to catch up. Faster faster!"

"Taking a turn up to the left." Derek takes a sharp turn and ends up on a path leading to a one way street. "Out of the way," He shouts to the cars blocking his path and he was doing everything in his power to drive around them. "Move it or lose it!"

"They are still following. They are still coming after us!"

Derek growls. "Tell me something I do not know!"

"Djall is horny for you, how about that?"

Derek could not suppress his laugh. "Good one!"

Cassie looked over her shoulder and this time she found surprisingly alarming. Djall and the other two passengers were equipped with assault rifles and they were aiming through their windows.

 _Where did they get those guns? The men I killed and knocked out before I jumped on that helicopter!_

"Get your head down man! They have guns!"

Bullets fire at them. Bullets shred the rearview mirror and front window. _We are not going to get a discount on rental cars anymore,_ Cassie thinks as she keeps her head down. Derek kept his head as low as possible while keeping his eyes on the road. He completely blocked out the noise of the bullets.

The cars beside them moved out the way like ants and drove to safety pretty quickly.

"Where do you think you're going assholes?!" Djall shouted. "We aren't going home until you're dead." He aims his gun at the jeep's back tire and pulls the trigger once he had a steady grip and good aim.

Sparks and flames burst from the back right tire and the jeep begins spinning out of control. Derek kept constantly jerking the wheel until their path was straight. That straight path however, led them smashing right into the brick wall of a building and Cassie did not have her seatbelt on.

* * *

 **Only ten chapters left**


	21. Recognized

Cassie went smashing through the front window hard. Derek smashed his head against the airbag like a hammer against a wall. Ironically, Cassie's head was about to be smashed in the brick wall. She did not have her seatbelt on, but she did not fly completely through the window. She landed face first on the hood with her scalp just a fraction of an inch from the brick wall. She was very lucky her head did not strike the brick wall, otherwise she would have lost her life.

The black jeep with the Albanians pulled to a stop just behind the crashed jeep into the destroyed wall and the four jumped out. Djall took his Ak-47 and smiled at the smoking jeep riddled with bullets. The sight amused him.

"Just beautiful." He walks forward, the other three holding their positions, eager to see what Djall is going to do with Cassie and her driver boyfriend.

"Verbti, En!" He turns to the dark haired Albanians. "Grab her boyfriend and beat him to a pulp!" He turns to the eldest Albanian of the group, Ljubi. "You keep a lookout for the authorities."

"Roger that," Ljubi said fiercely. "Just make sure her death is not quick, for she killed my brother Lugat."

Djall brandished a sadistic smile on his face. "I promise, nothing I'm about to do to her involves mercy."

Cassie pushes herself up slowly, feeling like all the muscles in her body were constricting. A sudden sharp pain formed in her left side, she groans loudly, biting her tongue to make sure she doesn't scream.

Djall claws at Cassie's hair and yanks her down from the hood with force and slamming her to the ground and on her back, her head dangerously close to the front right tire. Once he was sure she was subdued, he crouches down and shoves his left hand against her throat. His other hand still held the Ak-47 in and he placed the barrel to the very tip of her jaw.

The young dark haired Albanians had Derek on the ground before he could even blink and they began beating him brutally, putting their dormant fighting skills to use. They stomped on him with as much pressure as they could on his stomach and his kidneys. Mucus and blood filled Derek's nose and throat. "Screw you!" he managed to say, until En stomped on his jaw with his boot.

"I dare you to say that again." En sighed deeply, out of breath from stomping on his jaw. "Let me ask you something; you know what a bear trap feels like? It's the most painful feeling in the world. We have a bear trap in our jeep, would you like to try it on for size?"

"Screw you!"

"Cassie, I'm not going to shoot you." Djall sucked his teeth and shut his eyes tightly. "That would be...merciful." The smile on his face indicated to Cassie that he had something even in better in mind. His cold and pale hands rubbed against her the warm skin of her neck. "Your boyfriend will receive no mercy either. I want you to sit here and listen as my cousins beat your boyfriend to death."

Cassie turned her head, finding Djall's breath to be foul. She winced in horror at hearing the sound of Derek being beat up and it pained her to the stomach knowing that she was helpless. "How did you survive? I shot you."

Djall's smile did not change a single bit. "Or so you thought." He removes his left hand from her throat and down her waist. "You shot me, but it was only a shoulder wound, but it hurt like hell. When I came to...my entire family died. You killed them all. You know how I found you, my three cousins, En, Verbti and Ljubi are my outside contacts. Anything that could come up as a threat against the Cold iron, these guys give me a call. You shouldn't talk about looking for a mythical object on a public train you know."

Cassie knew what he was talking about. She remembered on the train that she and Derek openly discussed looking for the Cold iron. They thought that nobody on the train understood English or even knew what kind of Cold iron they were looking for. Apparently, one of the Albanians just happened to be on the train and contacted Djall. She had been a fool to discuss things in public.

Djall switches the Ak from his right hand to his left hand so he can caress her jeaned waist softly with his right hand, moving from side to side, stopping at her left side. "It seems you're bleeding out."

Cassie's head turned to her left side and she felt something lodged deep into her side, just above her hip and below the side of her chest. Her shirt was wet and colored crimson red. Now she knew where that sharp pain came from moments ago. The object that cut through her shirt and into her skin was a hunting knife with a black hilt. The pain was intense but she built such tolerance. Djall seemed to be enjoying himself by covering his fingertips with her blood. "Women always taste better. Their blood has a sweet taste that will just make your tastebuds surrender with happiness." He licks his blood covered fingers, memories of women he had eaten came back to him. "Let's take this knife out for a little bit." He grips the hilt and slowly pulls it out of Cassie. She did not scream, but she did groan. "Look at this knife." He gazed with wonder at the knife. He licks the knife clean of the blood before he reinserts it. "I would get some antibiotics, who knows what kind of mouth bacterias I have." The chuckle he gave was all that Cassie need to know that he must never brush his teeth or he has some kind of serious infection in his mouth that he learned to live with. Either way, she was at a good chance of getting an infection.

Cassie could feel his bacteria inside of her. She was disgusted at the idea and knew she needed antibiotics immediately. "Take the knife out of my side or else I will stab you with it."

Djall was so amused by her comment that he actually forgot that the Ak was still in his hand.

"Hold him still so I can stab him." En ordered his cousin. He took out a large knife from his holster and waited patiently for Verbti to pick the beaten Derek. Verbti puts one hand across Derek's throat and the other hand across his belly. "Hold him steady, I want to stab him in the heart."

Cassie told Djall for the last time to yank the knife out, he still refused, claiming that her threats were too cute. With her head turned to the right and the pain beginning to set in, she sighs, feeling the strength being zapped from her. One thing definitely caught her attention though, there were dozens of bricks underneath the jeep. They came apart from the fall when the jeep crashed and Djall did not seem to notice.

One of the bricks broke apart and made a sharp tip. It looked like it could be used as a caveman's knife. While Djall kept licking the blood off Cassie's stomach, Cassie grabbed the sharp brick, fighting the pain in her side and stabbed Djall in his ribs.

The sharp scream from Djall is what distracted En before he could stab Derek in the chest. This momentary distraction allowed Derek to kick En in the chest and break off from Verbti's grip.

Djall fell to his right knee and Cassie yanked the knife from her side and slashes Djall in the throat. Blood covered Djall's shirt and chest as he fell down and dead for reals this time. No one can survive a deep cut to the throat like that.

Ljubi turned and aimed his Ak to shoot the girl. The young archaeologist was much quicker though and her reflex were lightning-like...almost. She threw the knife. The knife pierced his heart like a stake and he was dead before he even hit the ground.

En fell to the ground while Derek beat up Verbti.

Cassie took Djall's rifle and shot up En before he could even react.

Derek knees Verbti between the legs and body slams him. He ended his life with stomping on his head, crushing it. "Want to try a bear trap on for size?" He repeats En's comment.

Derek turned around to go find Cassie sitting on the seat of her pants. The first thing he notices is her wounded side. Seeing her wounded brought a single tear to his eyes. "Cass, are you okay? What happened? Did they...rape...you?"

Cassie remembered what happened three years ago. In a natural museum of history in Maui, Cassie was pinned to the wall by a thief and he nearly raped her until Derek came in and stopped him.

"No, Djall here just wounded me." Cassie kept a hand over her wound, yet the blood seeped through her fingers. "Nothing fatal, but serious. I need some antibiotics."

Derek did not bother to ask. He was the kind of friend who would not question why someone would want a certain thing for their wound. He did know that the wound must be infected because she asked for antibiotics.

The first place he checked was the glove compartment in their jeep. They had guns, they had maps with them but the one thing they lacked to bring when they were enroute to Bosnia was medicine.

"I'm liable to get Cellulitis," Cassie said as she sat against the brick wall. "Djall licked his knife, tainting it with his saliva before he put it in my wounded side. Given as to a guy like this eats people, lives in a cave and never brushes his teeth, I'm pretty sure he is loaded with all kinds of bacteria that can be fatal."

"But if he is living with fatal bacteria, shouldn't he already be dead?" Derek searched the black jeep.

"That's what I thought, until I realized that he must have built an immunity to the bacteria. But I have no immunity to the bacteria so I need some antibiotics."

"Don't worry, we got some for you." A voice said out of nowhere.

Cassie looks everywhere to see where the voice came from and found nobody, until she looked at Derek and saw a man standing behind him with a gun to his back. Once again, Derek was held at gunpoint by a villain. "We will make sure our prisoners are taken care of, I mean it took us forever to track you guys. How you been Davis, Lambert?"

Cassie stared wide eye at the new threat. Several more people appeared from behind the man and walked towards Cassie.

She raises the gun, but one of them lunged and grabbed it before she could do anything, taking away anything she could have used to defend herself.

The one who stole the rifle looked down at Djall's corpse and cringed. "What an ugly pale bastard."

The man taking Derek hostage ordered for one of the men to get Cassie some antibiotics. "We have to make sure the women we are selling are in perfect condition for our buyers."

A thug brought a syringe and bottle of penicillin to Cassie. He gazed at her wound and filled the syringe with a clear liquid. "If you keep quiet Davis, I'll give you a lollipop." He jams the needle into her wound. She winces in pain, the thug presses the plunger down and Cassie is filled with penicillin. "Get me some gauze!" The thug that was not holding Derek hostage nor tending to Cassie's wound handed the medic thug a roll of gauze. "Would you let me dress your wound for you?" The medic thug asked but before waiting for a response, he dresses her wound. "You owe us. How about instead of money, the Cold iron?" He turns to the neutral thug. "Aiden, would you mind frisking Miss Davis for that journal she stole earlier from Rowan?"

"Sure thing." Aiden bends down and searches her pockets for the journal. While he was searching, he looks at Cassie's face with a look of both confusion and recognition. "You know, Davis here looks familiar."

"Don't care. Remember Davis…" the thug medic said. "Don't try anything or else Assan will blow Lambert's kneecaps off."

Cassie took his word and let Aiden search her. He pulled the journal right out of her back pocket.

"Hey Manny, check this out; the journal." He opens it up, but is unable to read any of the writing. "I don't speak whatever this language is."

The medic thug Manny takes the journal and examines it himself. "Davis, you better translate for us."

"No thank you."

Manny turns to Aiden and Assan. "Davis here refuses to cooperate."

Aiden does not take his eyes off of Cassie. "Her name is Cassie Davis?" Manny nodded. Aiden's eyes widen with both shock, excitement and energy and a huge smile formed on his face. "You're the Daughter of Nathan Drake! You're not Cassie Davis, you're Cassie Drake!"


	22. Cassie D-

"The Cassie Drake?" Manny said in amazement. "The Daughter of Nathan Drake, the legendary treasure hunter? You are Nate Drake's daughter? You lied to us this entire time. Oh man, wait until Rowan hears about this. We are going to get so much money. Much more than we ever anticipated if we hold her ransom."

"How can you confirm that she is Cassie Drake?" Assan asked. "I've never seen a picture of a treasure hunter's daughter named Cassie Drake."

Aiden could barely contain his excitement. "I heard some insane stories about her several years ago. Easter Island, Iceland, the Bahamas, and apparently was a near rape victim in some museum heist. Her father is the discoverer of El Dorado, Shambhala, and Ubar. He is loaded with all kinds of money that we could practically retire until 2063. I'll call the boss." Aiden reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. He dials in a few numbers and puts it to his ear. Cassie knew she had to do something. She was not going to allow herself to be held ransom. At the very very very least, she actually did not want to be held ransom because of her father's legacy.

"Wait!" Manny shouted, thinking of the alternatives, the kind that will hurt Cassie and Derek either way. "Before we do anything, we should at least have her translate this journal before we contact the boss so that way we can make his day with two sets of good news."

"How about we have some fun with Cassie Drake before we go sending her off. I'm sure her father would be broken if he discovered that his daughter was violated." Assan smiles. "To me, that sounds like a good idea for a movie plot."

Derek stared at the horrified Cassie. Derek could beat up Aasan, but Aiden and Manny could attack Cassie and brutally beat her up. He did not want that for her but at the same time, was not going to stand there held at gunpoint and do nothing. Assan struck him in the back and his knees gave in.

"Don't hurt him!" Cassie begged, but she should have known that these guys don't give mercy. Despite that, she still begged. "Please don't hurt him!" Assan ignored her pleas and stomped on Derek's head, pressing the friend down on the ground. He was already stomped on before they got there and now he has to be stomped on again.

"You, beat him until Cassie has finished translating what she needs to." Manny held the journal up close to Cassie's face, the pages just inches away. "You bitch, you better read it. Derek Lambert here will not be granted any mercy until you have."

"Don't do it!" Aiden kicked Derek in the face, prompting Cassie to do what they wanted. She concentrated on translating what was written in the journal to the three thugs. She thought about misleading them, but decided against it at the very last second. She read quickly, but carefully; like saying English words to a foreigner.

Assan and Aiden ceased, giving Derek the chance he needed to breathe without blood being upchucked from his throat.

"Good job," Manny praised sarcastically, yet gratefully. _The_ _code_ _of_ _the_ _villains_ , Cassie thought.

He took the journal away and looked at the pages himself, imagining the translated words. He flipped through several more pages and stopped on one that said 'Assholes List' and it listed the names Rowan, Gail, Damian and Jack. He noticed how all but Rowan's name was crossed off, which meant only one thing. Manny looked at Cassie with a look of confusion, then he put the pieces together. "So, you killed those bastards Gail, Damian and Jack." He smiled amusingly, apparently the man did not personally like the three men.

"Manny, can I tell the boss now?" Aiden held his radio and placed his finger on the transmission button but did not press it. "Please?"

"I thought we were going to torture and violate her," Assan sounded disappointed.

Cassie waited for her moment. She quickly analyzed her situation. Derek was lying on his side with Assan aiming an assault rifle at him. Manny was the only not standing and appeared to be a passive thug who relied on muscle to get what he wanted. She figured this because she saw no guns on him and figured that Aiden and Assan were the muscle.

Aiden did not appear to have any guns on him either. The only weapon he had was the radio and that was Cassie's second main priority at the moment. She just had to complete the first one: saving Derek.

Voices shouted from behind. All five people looked behind the black jeep and they saw two officers behind them with guns drawn, no police cruiser could be seen, which meant they were walking footpatrol. They must have been walking footpatrol until they stumbled upon the hostage situation. Derek knew better to sit around and crawled right out of the line of fire, acting as if nothing happened.

Assan growled and jerked his gun towards the cops, but he was not quick enough. Dozens of bullets ejecting from the barrel of pistols pumped into his chest, causing him a sharp and burning pain. Gasping for air, he collapses to his left knee, but his gun was still in his hand. He aims his rifle and shoots. One of the officers went falling backwards and dead. Assan grinned at his triumph, until one more bullet was lodged into his skull.

Aiden went for Assan's weapon, and backed away when he saw the gun barrel trained on him. But when he heard the telltale click sign, he smiled. "I know that sound buddy!" He snatches up the gun and drills bullet into the officer's chest before he could reload.

Cassie punches the distracted Manny in the temple, knocking him back and shoving him against the wall with her feet.

Derek was in pain from his previous beatings, but got back on his feet and hurled a powerful punch to Aiden's jaw, twisting him around. He howls and rounds are fired into the sky. "Leapfrog." Derek jumps on Aiden's back and snaps his neck. His body went limp instantly.

Cassie kicked Manny in the throat and crushed his windpipe with the heel of her sneaker. He grabbed his throat and fell on his side, blood leaking from his mouth.

Derek stepped away from Aiden and moved onto the officers, checking and hoping to see if they were alive. Their chests were definitely what Derek would call 'religious' in other words hole-y and their arteries to their heart were cut and blood leaked everywhere. Derek wanted to check for their pulse, but could not. Him leaving fingerprints could actually disturb the crime scene and he would most likely be found guilty if he was arrested.

 _They died and there is nothing I can do._

Cassie breathes deeply from the adrenaline rush before turning back to Derek. He looked just as exhausted, but he had sores everywhere due to him being stomped on. Cassie runs towards Derek and embraces him. The heartbeat she felt against her chest belonged to Derek. It was pumping but it turned back to normal.

Derek wraps himself around her and feels the warmth of her skin radiating. "Still alive and I am still immortal."

"You and me both." She looks up at his eyes. "You're so tall."

Derek was amused. "And you're small."

"And you're both dead," a distorted voice said. The two looked and saw Aiden with his radio to his mouth. Apparently Derek snapping his neck was not enough to kill him. "Sun pyramid!"

He was going to reveal Cassie's identity.

"Cassie D-"

A sneaker stomped down on his head, snapping his neck even further. This time, no human could have survived with their twisted at the most unusual angle ever. The familiar adrenaline rush consumed Cassie. She hasn't felt like this ever since Mesa Verde.

Derek looked at her, shocked at what she had done. She paid no attention to him. She felt remorse for killing Aiden, but she was not going to allow herself to play the damsel-in-distress in the adventure. That happened already twice in her life and she was not going to go through it again. She had sensed Derek staring at her with open eyes, but she refused to look. "Yes, I killed Aiden. I feel remorse, but I do not regret my choice. If I have to kill to prevent myself for being held ransom for my dad…"

"I don't care about that. I'm shocked that you were not able to kill him in time."

"Who knows, maybe Rowan didn't hear."

 _Aiden, Aiden, you there man? You said something about the sun pyramid, what do you mean?_

Cassie smashed the radio with her sneaker foot. "Damn it. I just jinxed it. Fricking frick frick frickidey fricked up fricking frick frick."

"Now you're Negan? You said the substitute word for the F word eight times," Derek joked. "Sorry, when things start to get tight, I try to relieve some things somehow."

Cassie had like four funny comebacks to that comment, but decided wrong time, wrong place. "Just get in the black jeep and then we can get the frick out of here."

"Nine times." Derek climbed into the driver's seat and turned the keys in the ignition. "Why do people always leave the keys in?"

"Why do you always have to drive?" Cassie took the gun she used earlier to kill one of the Albanians. She could not leave it, knowing that her fingerprints were on it. Plus, since Rowan knew where to go, it was better to have a gun headstart on him. Derek was going to grab a weapon, but he forgot when he started the car and drove off.

`"I'm so hungry," Derek complained as he drove back on the open road and towards their destination. "Cassie, do you have any food on you by any chance?"

Cassie smiled like a teenager who was excited to go to prom. "Back when we were on the train, I bought a few protein bars. I got you a strawberry protein bar." She pulls two protein bars out. "I got myself a caramel protein bar."

"Aww, you remembered it's strawberry and not peanut butter," he says sarcastically. "Thank you though."

"See, I really do know you." Cassie motioned for Derek to start the jeep and drive off. She took this moment to peel the wrapper off of her protein bar and take a chunk out of it. It tasted like paradise, just like that caramel protein shake she had a few days ago.

"You said you really do know me?" Derek asked as he took a quick glance at the path he was driving, leaving the bodies behind. "You know what kind of thoughts I have right now?"

"Give me a hint at least."

Derek's smiled mischievously. "They are happy images definitely."

"Are you talking about sex? If you are, then don't get your hopes."

Derek was wounded by her remark, but not really surprised at her comment. Although the idea of having sex with Cassie brought a huge smile to his face, an even bigger one than his already mischievous smile. "Okay then, let's get driving to the sun pyramid or whatever it's called."

Cassie handed him his crackers and took a bite of her peanut butter protein bar. "Step on it Derek the Driver."

Derek had completely forgotten that he was driving until he heard what Cassie said. "Right on it Cassie the Passenger!"

"When this whole adventure is done and over with, then I am driving us back home," she said proudly. "Whether you want me to or not."

To be honest, Derek did not want that to happen. He did not really trust Cassie with her driving. It has something to do with a little incident back in Cambodia eight months ago. Never drive near a cliff in a jungle, especially with Cassie Drake as the driver.


	23. Cryptic

The Pyramid of the Sun

An overgrown pyramid in the middle of Bosnia, not really sketchy at all. As mentioned earlier, no one has really excavated here in a decade or so. Cassie knew that there have been numerous theories as to where these pyramids came from, whether they were man-made or natural. Cassie believed more in the former then the latter. _Or maybe it is alien-made._

Derek parks the jeep near a tree and hops out, throwing his protein wrapper to the ground and burying it underneath his sneakers. He looks around with confusion, failing to see any kind of tourist. "I thought the website said that this was the most visited place in Bosnia."

Cassie rolled up her wrapper and placed it in the emergency console. "Maybe the website was out of date," she suggested as she climbed out. She went to the back and unearthed the AK-47 from underneath a duffel bag. _If only the bag were bigger, than I would be able to place the gun in._

* * *

Rowan and his nine remaining mercenaries were inbound towards the Bosnian pyramid in three jeeps after hearing Aiden's radio transmission. Rowan had realized that plus him, there were only ten of them left and he lost at least eleven people plus Jack and Damian. Gail, only God knows where he is. He knew that what happened next would be his last chance to actually get what he wants. He knew exactly what he wanted at this point: he wanted the Cold iron and he wanted to kill Derek Lambert and sell Cassie Davis as a w-. Since he lost over three dozen men, he expected some kind of compensation out of this entire adventure. The Cold iron, Cassie and Derek most certainly cover it.

* * *

Cassie hid the jeep with dozens of branch so that it was hidden from sight. The only weapon they had was the AK-47 in Cassie's possession and Damian's pistol in his direction, which he was successful in retrieving.

Cassie gazed at the tall and towering pyramid and smiled. The way how it blocked the sunlight and covered several dozen feet in shadows actually seemed romantic to Cassie. The perfect place to actually propose to someone. Right now though, it was the wrong place, and wrong time for a proposal.

"So, how are we getting inside the complex structure?" Derek asked. "We can't just comb the entire pyramid, that would take hours and it is only a quarter to five."

 _It's been a really crazy day._ She took out her journal and flipped through several pages, going back to the traces. She carefully reread everything out loud, making sure that no stone was left unturned. "It doesn't appear to provide a specific place for us to go, only thing it does tell is that the Cold iron is in there."

"Check again, the people who hid it probably had some kind of secret entrance," Derek exclaimed. "I want to see the Cold iron at first hand, don't you?"

Cassie did not answer. "Holy shit." She looks at the pyramid and then back at her journal. She does this one more time and smiles. "How could I have missed it?"

"Cassie, you okay?"

"The answer was in my back pocket this entire time."

"I hate it when you do that. Seriously, what the hell?"

Cassie held the journal up. From her point of view, the pyramid was to her left and the journal was to her right.

In her journal, behind the written ancient language was actually a sketch of the pyramid from a certain angle. She failed to notice a circle around a the very top of the pyramid. It was very cryptic, but it appeared that the entrance into the pyramid was located at the very top. She points this out to Derek before placing the journal in the back of her pocket and walking forwards.

"It can't be _that_ easy can it?" Derek asked with obvious doubt in his voice. "All we have to do is climb to the very top of the pyramid and there should be an entrance? From our experience on Easter Island, Iceland, Bermuda Island and from my experience in Mongolia, it is never that easy."

Cassie was amused by his statement. "Well, neither is love and war easy."

Cassie and Derek started climbing up the pyramid, using their pitons and grappling hooks to get up the extremely slope hill. Sliding down a hill like this would be like sliding down a dam, only less painful. Cassie looked at her piton and saw that it still had blood stains on that turned brown. It reminded her of what happened in the sewers. In a way, Cassie felt sad using her piton to kill a person, but it was either him or her, and he was part of a group that forcing Cassie out of her clothes. One thing that made it up was Derek passing out from seeing her without her shirt on, like back in college and in Iceland.

Cassie jammed her piton in a weak rock wall and pulled herself up with one hand. The grappling rope hung around her belt loop and Derek was climbing below her. She reaches for a handhold and climbs upward, taking her piton with her.

"Nice view," he said quietly.

"Nice 'view' indeed Derek." She knew exactly what he was referring to and planned to tease him. "Possibly the only good 'view' you will ever get in your life."

Derek wanted to touch her 'view' but he was afraid that he may pass out and he had no intention of rolling down a hill.

Cassie reached for another handhold with her leg being planted firmly below on a foothold. Or so she thought. The foothold broke off and Cassie almost lost her grip and went rolling down the hill.

She managed to grab another handhold before her head was able to strike against a tree. Her life was saved in an instant. "Gravity's a bitch." She laughed at her own comment before climbing back up. "D-Man, you okay up there?"

He did not answer and Cassie could not see him. She called out his name again, but he failed to respond. Or so she thought. "Up here Casablanca!"

Cassie chuckled upon hearing the name of Casablanca. "I hate that name." She continued to climb up the hill and met up with Derek once more. "Why hello there Dick-man."

Derek laughed sarcastically and lightly hit Cassie on the elbow. "Dick-man? Really?"

"Let's settle this when we actually get to the top, how about that?" She actually said this as a way to avoid hearing a lecture from him. She could always tell when her observant friend would lecture her on name calling him and she did not want to hear a nine minute lecture, especially since they were so close to actually finding the Cold iron.

After eight minutes of climbing, they finally arrived at the very top of the pyramid. The tip of the iceberg (pyramid version). Cassie held onto a handhold and leaned backwards, dangling from one hand. "I am the queen of Bosnia!"

"Queen makes you sound very, very old," Derek commented. "How about Princess of Bosnia?"

"Well Princess makes me sound like a spoiled brat."

 _Well, you are technically,_ Derek thought sarcastically. "So, what we supposed to do? What's the journal say?"

Cassie reached for the journal using her free hand and freeing it from her back pocket. She opened the journal and flipped through the pages using her jaw. She stops on the one with the pyramid in the background. "Well, there is an entrance definitely, but I think we have to use clues to unlock it. I just need a little more time to decipher this and then we should be a pure as gold. Or as pure as crystal skull." Her own comment reminded her of the time that her mother and father and herself went to Africa and they discovered the very first crystal skull made by Africans pre-Columbian. _That adventure was badass. And I was only eleven at the time._

* * *

"Boss, at the very top of the pyramid," Vlad said as he looked through the binoculars. "It's Davis and Lambert, they appear to be alive and well."

Rowan nodded as he leaned back in his seat. "Which is confirmation that Damian and Jack failed."

"Boss, what are we going to do when we meet up with Davis and Lambert?"

"Well Vlad, once we meet up with the two, I think we should kill them. There are plenty of other girls out there who are begging to be captured. Once we get the Cold iron, then we can sell it on the black market. My black market." He changed his mind completely on wanting to sell Cassie.

Vlad handed Rowan the binoculars to look through. He knew that Rowan saw Cassie and Derek at the very top. "Including me, there are only nine of us mercenaries left. Even with you, we outnumber Davis and Lambert ten to two. Since they don't see us, then that means we have the drop on them definitely."

* * *

Cassie instructed for Derek to start digging with one hand. Cassie was able to decipher on the page that the entrance is buried and it had to be unearthed in order for them to literally drop into the pyramid. Cassie put her journal back into her pocket and started using her free hand to claw at the dirt ground.

They dug like dogs desperate to bury their bones. Their fingers were getting dirty and dirt got under their nails, like the time in Easter Island when they dug for a miniature moai statue in the dirt, only to unearth another shovel.

"Cassie, how much longer until we actually bury ourselves inside the pyramid?"

"You really want me to answer that question, just keep digging!"

The ground at the tip of the pyramid finally gave away and the two went falling inside.


	24. Hollow Eyes

Cassie howled in terror as she fell an indefinite number of feet. The only light that she saw was the one coming from the hole they fell through as the entire room around them was completely pitch-black-out. She felt weightless as she fell through the darkness and her throat was starting to burn from her screaming.

Suddenly she landed on something and her back arched. She groans in pain and her eyes are tightly shut. Her lips parted from her teeth and she was sycking in air through the gaps between her teeth. The pain in her back was unbearable.

Saliva drooled from Derek's mouth as he laid on his stomach. He could not see what was around him, but he felt something hard on his back and he tried to squirm, but the weight was too much for him to handle.

Cassie's hands shake uncontrollably as she reaches for her waist. She wraps her hands tightly around her anglehead flashlight. Her thumb moves to the switch and a flashlight beam turns on and aims at the wall. She was shocked to discover that the thing she was lying down on was Derek and the saliva drooling from his mouth was blood.

"Get offa me!" Derek shouts through his teeth upon discovering that Cassie was lying on top of him. "The the hell offa me!"

Cassie slowly sits up and crawls to her knees. "Your back is as hard as a rock."

"And you're as heavy as a tank." Derek wheezed as he got up. He tasted the metallic taste of his blood and felt something on his tongue, clinging on. _More blood._ He realized that he landed on his stomach and Cassie landing on top of him caused him to spit up blood. "You have something to say Cassie?"

Cassie sat against the wall and kept the flashlight beamed aimed on the ground near Derek, giving her illumination of his face. "I'm sorry I fell on you...and don't insult my weight."

"Why, how much do you weight?" Derek asked with a grin on his face. But when he saw the glare on her face, he knew that he shouldn't have asked that question. "I didn't mean to. Where are we by the way? Are we inside the pyramid?"

Cassie flashed the light around her to get her bearings. Everywhere she looked, it appeared to be walls that have been rotting for a while. The wood on the walls looked so rotted to the point where they were able to break apart from the slightest touch. Nature had managed to overgrow the inside of the pyramid as Cassie was sitting against a wall with vines. Cassie got to her feet as soon as the pain disappeared from her and went to Derek's side. "Derek man, we surely are in the pyramid. Nature beat us to it though." She grabs his arm and puts it over her shoulder. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Derek tried standing, but his left knee gave in. He howled in pain that made Cassie's heart melt with pain. She set him down against the wall and she took a look at his knee. She rubbed her hands against his knee to try and find the source of his pain. When she rubbed his kneecap, he howled once more.

Cassie took her hand back and looked at his knee. She did not need to touch him in order to deduce that he had a broken leg. When she told Derek the news, he was in complete denial.

"Maybe it's nothing." His denials were pathetically in vain. "Maybe it's something else, I don't want to be dead weight."

"You're not dead weight either way. You are still my friend and you are still useful in this adventure. Plenty useful," Cassie reassured. "Your leg is broken without a doubt."

"Can't you just fix it somehow?" Derek gripped his leg softly, making sure not to inflict pain on himself. It was hard for him to accept the fact, but his leg was indeed broken. He was trying to figure how it got broken and deduced it was from the fall, but he was unable to feel it until Cassie touched him was odd.

Cassie handed Derek her flashlight and told him to shine it in whatever direction she was going. "I'm going to try and find out where we are so we can get out of this godforsaken room. Don't shine that light anywhere else unless I tell you to."

Derek saluted her like a soldier to a drill sergeant. "Yes Cassie!"

Cassie looked behind several pillars that were in the room to see if there was a door of any kind. Finding nothing, she backs away in disappointment before moving to the farthest wall. The farthest wall had vines on it, but Cassie noticed something else behind it. Curiously, she moved the vines out of the way and rubbed her hands against the wall. Impressive statues were carved into the wall. Ancient depictions as old as the Ice Age or perhaps younger. The depictions were of people surrounding some kind of U shaped objected that had some kind of energy emitting from it.

 _The Cold iron, looks like those Albanians were right._ She takes out her zippo and sets the vines on fire before yanking them down to the ground and stomping on the fire. She sighs upon feeling the rush. The rush of discovering something. The rush as when Heinrich Schliemann discovered Troy. Only thing was he discovered something from the Greek myth while she was discovering something from European folklore.

"Find anything pretty interesting Cassie?" Derek asks as he holds the light steady.

"I sure did D-Man. I sure did." She gazed upon the hollow eyes of the people surrounding the Cold iron. The holes looked big enough for a single finger to fit through. "The eyes on these carvings are hollow, there's probably a lever inside one of them."

"But which one?"

Cassie shrugged. "Got me. Can you toss the flashlight towards me?"

"Sure thing." Derek tossed the flashlight towards Cassie. She caught it in midair and aimed the beam into each of the hollow eyes. "I'll hand this back as soon as I figure out this puzzle."

"How about once you are done, you come treat my injury because this thing hurts worse than owning a hooker five hundred dollars?"

"You owed a hooker five hundred dollars?" She was actually jealous that Derek went to a hooker for love instead of her.

"No, it's something Sully said."

 _Phew._ She turns her full attention to the hollow eyes and examined inside very thoroughly. She examined as if she was trying to split an atom.

* * *

"Where did they go?" Rowan asked upon noticing Cassie and Derek disappear through the binoculars. "The two just disappeared completely, how is that possible?" Rowan shoved the binoculars into Vlad's stomach. "Go call Rex and Bob and tell them to get the climbing equipment. We are moving out ASAP."

Vlad nodded to Rowan's command and ran off towards one of the jeeps behind the one that Rowan was sitting. "Rex, Bob, grab the climbing equipment, we are moving out. Lex, you go let everyone else know that we are moving in right now!" he barked and the mercenaries swallowed their orders.

Rowan had a headcount of who was with him. He counted himself, his new right-hand man Vlad and the eight others. "Rex, Lex, Bob, Hogarth, Jimmy, Antonio, Burt and Paul," Rowan finished counting before he turned back to the tip of the pyramid. "Alright people, the ten of us are going into that pyramid, following where Davis and Lambert disappeared at the top and we are going to secure us the Cold iron. We will be armed to the teeth with guns and explosives, but the latter should only be used as a last resort as I do not want a cave-in. Remember, once we have what we need, we shall execute both Cassie Davis and Derek Lambert. Tread not lightly my fellow colleagues, we will be going home with big bucks today and that is a promise. Now follow me and let's get inside that pyramid."

* * *

"This is extremely cryptic," Cassie complained as she searched through all the hollow eyes. "It's like they are watching our every move. It's like there are eyeballs inside these eye holes. Derek?"

"What?"

"I might be a while at solving this puzzle." Inside the hollow holes were nothing but teeny tiny buttons. _Every single one of them had buttons so which one was the right one to press?_ Cassie randomly inserted a single finger into one of the holes and pushed the button inside. She quickly yanked out her finger in a swift motion just as she heard a creak. "Did I do that?" _Of course you did Cassie you're the only one who pressed the button. What kind of stupid ass game is this anyways?_

The entire wall in front of her began creaking and it actually alarmed Cassie. Her eyes widen and she backs away slowly. Dust and pebbles wall from the wall just before it ascends into the ceiling. Cassie's eyes followed the door until it disappeared before she looked at the new entrance in the wall. "What da…"

"What happened Cassie?" Derek asked, his eyes following the flashlight beam as it shot through the new entrance in the wall. "What da...indeed," he said as soon as he saw. "You figured it out Cassie," he cheered, but the pain in his knee shot through him again. "Holy smokes!"

Cassie kept her eyes on the entrance as she backed away and back towards Derek. She got down to one knee and put his arm over her shoulder. "You said you wanted to see the Cold iron firsthand, and I will take you to it. Remember Derek, you are not dead weight. If anything, you're heavy weight."

Derek smiled at Cassie's successful attempt to cheer him up. "Ha ha ha." She moved very, very slowly as she got him up to his feet. His eyes widened his lips were sealed shut in an effort to block out the pain. "I remember the last serious injury that happened to me," he says calmly as his body begins to adjust to the pain. "I remember it like it was yesterday. It was in Cambodia when we were in a car chase and you almost drove us off a cliff."

"That's why you want to drive instead of me? How did I seriously injury you?"

"Duhh, I hit my head against the dashboard and I got a serious concussion. I was in the hospital for three whole weeks because of that concussion."

"I'm sorry, but since you are not able to walk, I guess that I will be driving us home then."

Derek could care less and he knew there was no point arguing either way. He was badly hurt and there was no way he was going to be able to drive back to the airport. He mentally admitted defeat and waved his hand above his head, a sign of surrender. "Okay, fair play. But next time when my leg is all good and as sweet as pie, then I will be driving."

"Yeah right," Cassie said before she slowly escorted Derek towards the entrance in the wall. "Once this adventure is done, I'll take you to the nearest hospital and I will even pay for you treatment."

"Yeah, with what?"

"With whatever gold we get from this experience. How about we stop talking and then we can explore the famous Pyramid of the Sun? I want to see that Cold iron. I can practically just feel the coldness around my hand."

Cassie and a limp Derek made a beeline towards the entrance. Derek held the flashlight in his hand while Cassie did the walking.

* * *

 **I have more people reading my Tomb Raider story than any of my other three stories. I did not realize you guys liked Tomb Raider that much. BTW, the Last of Us story, it is not done and over with. I have just been suffering from writer's block, but now that I have paralyzed it, I will be updating pretty soon. I will start updating as soon as this story is done.**


	25. A Rock And A Hard Place

Pretty soon, Derek was getting too heavy for Cassie. She felt like some kind of forklift lifting Derek. She wanted to set him down, but she could not afford to leave him in one of the tunnels of the extremely complex labyrinth-like structure of the Pyramid of the Sun. Her shoulder was sore from his weight, but she pushed through and ignored the soreness completely. "Derek man, if only I knew how much you weighed, then would it have made my job easier to carry you."

"Whatever," Derek shrugs off the comment. "Never mattered anyways." Derek clutched his left knee painfully. "It hurts really bad though. Once we find this Cold iron, let's just destroy it."

"Why do you think we came here in the first place? What, you think we came here so we could get a couple of selfies to post on Facebook or something? We came here so we can blow that thing to Hell where it belongs."

Derek took extreme amusement in Cassie's answer. "Oh man, I love you Cassie."

Cassie blushed at this comment, but she turned away before Derek could see. "I love you too Derek. I could kiss you right now."

Derek's eyes widened and he felt a tightening in his pants. And then his heartbeat increased and he felt himself passing out again. Cassie saw this coming (ha ha) and slapped Derek on the cheek. "Wake up Derek of Gilgamesh, no need to get all pass-y out-y on me. Stay awake." She slapped him several more times, leaving red marks across his face. "Wake up you horny toad!" She slapped him so hard, it actually left a handprint on his face.

"What the hell?!" Derek groaned and put a hand on his cheek, feeling the burning pain in his cheek. "You slapped me! You slapped me!"

"I woke you up, you were passing out on me. Even when I specifically said not to get all pass-y out-y on me," Cassie justified. "You only have yourself to blame."

"I can't help it, every time I see your body or when you wish to kiss me, I pass out from excitement."

"Why?"

"I have no idea, but a doctor had a theory that I suffer from an extreme case of syncope and whenever I gaze upon a 'woman' that is what causes me to pass out," he explained. That is what his doctor told, but him passing out seemed to work solely for Cassie as Derek has seen a college girl naked and yet he failed to pass out. When he saw Cassie naked in Iceland, he definitely passed out.

"Don't worry, I won't be passing out anytime soon. Understand?"

"I'm the one who should be asking you that...and I understand," Cassie said before she continued to carry Derek down the tunnels. The tunnels for some reason seemed to stretch far and far. Neither person was complaining though because they knew that the Cold iron was down the path that they were following. Cassie told Derek that once they destroyed the Cold iron and escaped, then all's well that ends well.

* * *

"Hogarth, Jimmy, Antonio, come on down here," Rowan ordered as Vlad rappelled down beside Rowan. The three mercenaries rappelled down into the room and waited for the others to rappel down as well.

"Boss, this place looks like it has been picked clean," Rex comments as he cocks his rifle. "This place looks like it has been lived in for a thousand years at least."

"Try three thousand plus years," Burt said. "This place looks old enough for people even like George Washington to live in."

"Where's Davis and Lambert?" Vlad asked as he looked around. "They must have been down here." He turns to Rowan for an answer. "They must be down here right?"

"No other place for them to go. Start searching boys and maybe we shall get an answer as to where these people went," Rowan answered, but he was not exactly sure of himself. "Paul, Rex, give us some lights."

Paul and Rex obeyed their command. The entire room lit up and Rowan got a clear picture of everything. He was so amazed at all the carving and stone work on the walls, but he was not here for some kind of paint museum tour or whatever it's called in America, he was here for one thing and one thing only: the Cold iron.

"Hey boss," Lex called out from behind him. When all eyes turned towards him, he spoke, "Maybe the two went through this hole in the wall; it looks big enough to fit at least three people at the most."

* * *

The ground rumbled beneath Cassie. The two of them were shaken for a brief second. "What the hell was that?"

"I have no idea Derek." Cassie looked at the ceiling above her. She was lucky to have looked up because something came down. A huge brick with spikes on the front swung forward like a swing set towards Cassie and Derek. Using her quick thinking, she dives backwards, taking Derek with her just as the spiked brick swung over her head. Afterwards, the bricked spike was suspended back into the air on the barely visible rope it was attached to and stayed hidden in the shadows.

"What the hell was that?" Derek asked. "Medieval trap?" Then the pain in his knee came back.

Cassie looked at where she stepped at, hoping to find the source. There was a foot sized square carved into the floor, right where her foot stepped just moments before the spiked brick came down. "Yep, definitely a Medieval trap." She slowly helps Derek get up while at the same time watching out for any traps. "Great, now we got to Bruce Lee this thing."

"Oh man, if only I could actually meet Bruce Lee," Derek said hopefully.

"If only we could meet both Bruce Lee," Cassie corrected. "That would be insanely awesome."

Derek chuckled. "Yes it would be."

Cassie edged forward, watching her step very carefully. "But, he is resting in peace."

* * *

Rowan and his gang arrived at the spot that Cassie and Derek just barely dodged a spiked brick. Rowan and Jimmy were the ones leading the group with the others following close behind. They stayed in a straight line, but kept their weapons drawn just in case of any surprises.

Jimmy stepped on the brick from earlier and a rumble shook the ground. "What the hell was that?" Jimmy asked before the spiked brick came flying down. Rowan and the others gasp with wide eyes at the sight of seeing a huge spike impale Jimmy in the forehead. Jimmy was silent as the spike retreated from his forehead and back into the ceiling. Jimmy's eyes were frozen open as the mercenary fell back on his back. Blood leaked from Jimmy's head and a pool formed around him that washed all the way towards Rowan's shoes. Rowan reaches down not to pay his respects (as if he had any), but to take his gun from him.

"Look people, Jimmy is dead but to be fair, he saved us. He took the bullet for us when he stepped on whatever caused this trap to activate. He saved us all and we should do the honorable thing by moving forward for him. Once we obtain the Cold iron, we can send money to his family for compensation. Anybody with me on this? Good, now everyone, watch your step and let's get moving forward. Remember that Jimmy bit the bullet." He was lying through his teeth, but his men did not know that though. Rowan was as despicable as they came: he was both a mass-murderer and a liar at the same time. But when the chips are down for both Cassie and Derek, then it shall be revealed who is the more bigger woman/man.

* * *

Cassie heard that rumble again behind her and recognized it. It was the same rumble as when people step on the carved square in the ground. That could only mean one thing: Rowan was here and he was hot on their trail. But given as to how the rumble was far away, Cassie calculated that Derek and her had a twelve minute head start on the villains.

"Did you hear that Cassie? Rowan is here or someone else."

Cassie rolled her eyes at Derek. "D-Man, I doubt it's the Albanians because we took them all out. The only people who know we are here is Rowan most likely and he most likely would have come down the same hole that we came down, which means that he has some kind of grappling rope for us to climb when we destroy the Cold iron."

"That's kind of a long statement," Derek said as he wheezed from his knee pain. "The only trouble is we have our objective down this path and we have enemies from behind. We are literally trapped between a rock and a hard place."

"So was my dad trapped between a rock and a hard place. He was hanging off a derailed train in the Himalayas and he was pretty much confused about his environment, but he persevered and made it out alive. We are trapped between a rock and a hard place and we will make it out alive. And when we do, I will buy you some tacos from Taco Bell."

"Can we go to a Bosnian one?"

"If only I had Bosnian currency, which I am pretty much picked clean from that car rental guy. By the way, we should whatever treasure we find here to pay for the rental jeep we destroyed." Cassie stopped herself from stepping on a carved square on the floor. "Shit, I almost stepped on that bastard." She steps over, helping Derek over. "Be very careful, remember, we will survive this rock and a hard place."

* * *

"We are not going to survive this rock and a hard place," Vlad complained as he stepped over a carved square. "We have traps on one side, and Davis and Lambert on the other side and they are going to beat us to the Cold iron."

"Shut up Vlad," Rowan barked. "One more word and I will kill you."

"And you'll be one man short." Vlad smiled mischievously at him. He was right and Rowan knew it. With Jimmy's death, that left only the nine of them left and killing Vlad would most certainly dwindle their numbers. Rowan was a man who relied heavily on numbers to his advantage and if only Cassie and Derek hadn't killed over two or three dozen men, or maybe less, then would he have had a large advantage. He considered his men to be expandable because of their massive numbers but with small numbers, each life was precious.

"Alright then Vlad. Men, be very careful and we should pick up the pace and we should be able to beat Davis and Lambert to the Cold iron."

* * *

"Pick up the pace Cassie."

"And risk inflicting pain on you?" Cassie asked softly. "We still have our guns on us and we will put them to good use once we meet Rowan and his gang. By my calculations, he can't fit that many mercenaries in this tunnel. It can barely fit eleven people at the most."

"Cassie, can I have your gun so I can hold off the villains when they come meet us?"

Cassie considered his words very carefully. He could only feel pain in his legs and his arms were still in good condition. She could not turn and shoot, but when she's running with Derek over her shoulder, he could do the gunning. "Reach for the gun and pull it over my shoulder. When I do the running, you do the gunning."


	26. You Have An AK-47, Right?

"Be very careful stepping over that thing," Derek warns as they approach a huge square carved into the floor. Cassie took one big step over it like the first astronaut on the moon and helped Derek over very carefully. Normally, they would have gone around but at this point, the elbow room was getting much narrower and narrower. Cassie took extreme caution in making sure that she had enough elbow room to keep Derek by her side, but the deeper they traveled, the more narrow it got. "Wow, it's like a submarine in here!"

"Then we better not bring Charlie Cutter here with us," Cassie said, remembering that her father told her that Cutter had an extreme fear of enclosed spaces. Cassie was glad she had no fear of enclosed spaces. The only time she suffered from claustrophobia was eight years ago when she went exploring in an ancient Mayan tomb in Guatemala. That was the only time she suffered from claustrophobia because imagine being trapped in a caved-in tomb in the middle of the jungle in Guatemala and you are thousands of feet underground and your only hope of escaping was having your father figure way out.

"Cassie, I think we have another trap," Derek stated as he looked down the the ground. There was a narrow bridge with a bottomless abyss below. Cassie and Derek stared down the abyss for a long time before she kicked a rock down there. She heard nothing but the rock bouncing off the wall and then the sound fading into nothing.

"Okay, so I guess we cross this narrow bridge and hope we do not fall into the bottomless abyss," Cassie says unsure. "Hopefully we won't fall to our deaths. We won't because we are immortal."

Cassie edged towards the bridge and instead of having Derek by her side, she instructs him to hang onto her back but not to weigh her down. "I promise not to, don't want to take an infinite nosedive."

Cassie waited for Derek to wrap his hands around her shoulders and to move most of his weight to his uninjured leg before Cassie started walking across the bridge.

"What do you think is at the end of this bridge?" Derek asked.

Cassie shrugged. "I guess we will have to wait and find out, won't we?" Cassie felt herself being forced down, but she felt Derek readjust his stance so that she could stand up again. "You are heavy weight."

The bridge came to an end, literally.

The bridge was not all the way across to the other side of solid ground. Cassie counted that she was fifteen feet from the other side and the bridge ended just fifteen feet before it could reach the other side. "Oh shit," she cursed as she looked at the other side before gazing down into the abyss. "Shit man, none of us can make a fifteen feet jump. You can't make it with your broken leg and I can't really jump that far."

Derek grunted in annoyance, rolling his eyes back. "What are we going to do now?"

"God in Heaven," Cassie replied. "I am still trying to figure that out. I've been trying to figure it out the moment you and me both saw that we reached the end of this bridge before we could make it to the other side." Cassie's head snapped upwards and she gazed at only one thing: an exposed beam just hanging on the ceiling. Luckily, she still had her grappling hook with her and it looked sturdy enough to swing across. "Derek, hand me my grappling hook." Derek looks at her waist and sees the grappling hook at her belt loop. He untangle it with one hand and hands the sharp part to her left hand. "Thank you D-Man." She puts the hook to her right hand while her left hand grips the rope. With a snap of the wrist, she launches the hook towards the exposed beam, wrapping itself around like a snake trapping it's prey. "Alright then, that's a cut." She loosens the rope around her belt loop and hands it to Derek. "You go first, I have to make sure the VIP is secure first."

Derek held onto Cassie with one hand, and grabbed the grappling hook with the other. "For reals Cassie? Thank you." Cassie helps him stand up forward and she launches him forward. He yells like Tarzan as he swings across the abyss to the other side. The exposed beam loosened a bit to the point where Derek actually fell on his back. Derek was mostly unharmed, but his back was aching a bit. "I'm alright Cassie." He sits up with the rope still in his hand. He turns his head around to see Cassie waving at him, motiong for him to toss her the rope. "Here you go Cassie!"

He swings the rope towards her and she catches it with one hand. She secures both hands around the rope tightly, yanks the rope to test it tightness around the beam before she lifts her feet off the ground and swings. The exposed beam gave in and fell from the ceiling. Cassie gave out a shout as she plunged into the abyss while flying towards the other side.

Derek thrusts his hands out as far as he could over the abyss and just barely manages to catch Cassie with one hand.

Cassie clung onto Derek's one hand with one hand. Derek used all his strength to yank her upwards, his face was turning red and his head felt like it was going to pop off. Cassie gripped a nearby handhold and hauled herself upwards while still holding onto Derek's hand. When she was back on her feet again on solid ground, Derek was lying on his side, tired and exhausted.

"Derek man, are you alright?" Cassie asked with huge concern obvious in her voice. "Did I really weight that much? Now you know how I felt when I was pulling you up with one hand back in Mesa Verde."

"In that case, no more Oreos for you fatty." He chuckled a little. "I'm suddenly hungry, I could really eat at this point."

Cassie wished she bought more protein bars. "Like I said, we're going to Taco Bell after this after we get you in a leg cast." She grabs Derek by the shoulder and pulls him to his feet. He already did his job of putting all his weight on his uninjured leg and wrapped his arm around Cassie's shoulder. "Derek, I have a little bit of water on me if that's aight with you." Derek shook his head. "Okay then, but if you want some water, all you have to do is just ask me."

"I won't be asking for a while."

"Okay then," she said before she playfully slapped him softly on the cheek. She had Derek shine her flashlight once again before they started moving forward again. "Let's go Derek Lowell, remember not to weigh me down; I haven't forgotten what you tried to do on the bridge."

Derek grinned his teeth as he looked at her. "I'm sorry Cassie Drake, but I was not intentionally weighing you down on the bridge. Do you have any idea what it's like to have a broken leg?"

Cassie could answer that question with a definitive 'yes'. She has not gotten a broken leg before, but she has gotten a broken finger before. On Easter Island, a villain-teenager-broke her index finger and it took her a few days to recover. She killed the villainous teenarger by pushing him into the path of a falling moai statue. Her first kill was a teenager being crushed by a moai statue. In Iceland, she was actually on a dig with her uncle Sam and she was ambushed by a group of Neo-Nazis who claimed to be descendants of the ancient Thule Occult Society and they were looking for Ultima Thule. Cassie, her uncle Sam, and Derek took care of all five Neo-Nazis and their two Icelandic bandit allies.

Several more minutes of walking, the two treasure hunters arrived at a conjunction. One path went left and the other path went right, but the distances looked the same. If Derek wasn't injured, then they would have split up, but they had to think of something since his leg is broken.

"Derek, what do you want to do?" Cassie asks as she sets Derek down against the wall for him to sit. "If your leg wasn't so F-ed up, then we would've split up." She looks down the left path before looking down the right path. "What do you want to do Derek?"

"Just leave me and when you find the right path, come back and get me."

Cassie looked down the path they came from before turning back to Derek. "What about the dickhead scumbags that are coming our way?"

"You have an AK-47 slugged on your back don't you?"


	27. What was that?

Cassie removed the AK-47 from her back and cocked it before handing it to Derek along with two magazine clips fully loaded. "Remember, if you require assistance, fire two single bullets semi-automatically. I'll run back here immediately. Since you have my AK, can I have your pistol?"

Derek reached for his holster and handed his sidearm, a Beretta 92FS to Cassie. "Sadly, I have only one magazine which means there are only fifteen bullets in your pistol."

Cassie pulls the chamber back slowly, a single bullet ejecting from it. "I think I'll manage." She puts the chamber back into position before tucking it into the back of her pants. "I'll be taking the left path for starters and if I find nothing or something, I'll come back." She puts a single hand on Derek's shoulder and massages it for a brief second. "Good fortune man. Good fortune."

Derek affectionately a hand on Cassie's hand. "Sic Parvis Magna."

 **(One of the longest paragraphs I have ever written before)**

Cassie repeated Derek's quote before standing up and patting Derek like a dog. She took out her spare flashlight and shined it down the left path and walked forward. Cassie made sure her piton and grappling hook were both secure as she had a feeling that she would need them both pretty soon. Shehad a tingling feeling in the back of her skull that would always alert her of possible dangers. _Like Spiderman, if Spiderman was a treasure hunter or something._ Cassie kept her flashlight beam as steady as possible as she squeezed through a narrow gap. If Derek was with her, then he would have joked on how she wouldn't be able to fit her 'fat' stomach through. She was no fat, but she was stuck. Her chest was grinding against the rock wall as she moved forward. _Even if I brought Derek with me, I have no idea how I would've been able to fit him through. Now who's the fatty one?_ But since Derek was currently not with her, she did not need to worry about anything. _Well, I still have to worry about Rowan and his boys encountering Derek. I do not want for that to happen. Derek, I will come back to you one way or another, just gotta squeeze through this thing first._ When she finally made through the gap, she wagged her head like a dog before walking forward. _That was certainly something I will admit. Stop talking to yourself Cassie._ The trail which she was following lead her to sliding down a steep hill. She got down of her rear end and slid down, shouting 'weeeee' like a little girl. She jumped forward and landed flat on her feet, her legs absorbing the impact of the fall. _That was fun...talking to yourself again._ She slapped herself on the head before moving onwards, stepping over several bricks and stones on the ground. Like before, the path was getting more and more narrow as she proceeded, but she had no person hanging on her back this time. _Man, this tunnel goes on forever._ Now she was feeling weird because not only were the walls closing in on her, the ceiling appeared to be descending, forcing her to crouch and walk. Her crouch and walking turned into crawling as the ceiling was no more than three and a half feet from the ceiling. She felt as if she was crawling a wormhole and was about to be sucked out the other side as soon as she took another step. _Ow, I hit my head,_ Cassie rubbed the bruise on her head that she received from hitting her head against the rock ceiling. Now the the ceiling was about two feet from the ground, but there was a hole right in front of her. A hole that was just barely big enough to fit her head and slim body through. Cassie had to squeeze her head through before she could squeeze her arms and legs through the hole. _What the hell was that? I'm glad I didn't have my AK on my back and honestly, I have no idea if I could have squeezed Derek through that._

Cassie coughed the dust and dirt out of her mouth before licking her lips. _Man, what the hell was that? I said it once, I'll say it again._ She gets back up to her feet and stretches her arms as far out as she could. _Man, it feel amazingly awesome to be able to spread my wings._ Cassie inhaled deeply before taking a step forward. She was praying that she would not meet another kind of tunnel like that as long as she was in the pyramid. Somehow, she knew that she would not meet a tunnel like that again, but she will meet something else that will make things even more complicated.

She growled at the thought of having to crawl back through the hole just to escape. She was wondering how Derek was doing all by himself. She was still worried that she might not be able to make it back in time for Derek because of all the insane obstacles she just had to overcome. _I swear to God if there's a zombie in the next room…_

Cassie looked back at the path that she came through to see that she has traveled a long way. If she had a walkie-talkie on her, then she would call Derek and see how he was doing with himself. Now she regretted smashing Aiden's radio. _I should have taken that radio, but what would Derek have to communicate with me with?_

She pushed her regrets aside and focused on walking forward. She was beginning to feel lightheaded. She felt as if her head was swelling up like a balloon and ready to fly off of her head. _Oh man, starting to feel drunk,_ even her mind voice sounded slurred. Then it started smelling bad, but she recognized that smell. _Methane gas, coming this way. How did these ancient people get their hands on methane gas?_ Just as she thought, a cloud of green gas floated above her, coming from a triangle shaped hole in the wall.

"What the hell? Methane gas coming in from a hole in the wall?" She covered her nose with her elbow. "Can't inhale that in or I will suffocate." She massaged her throat with her hand with the flashlight. "Man, throat is starting to feel dry." She knew that Methane gas was relatively nontoxic, but it can reduce the oxygen within a person. "And Methane gas is highly flammable. But I do not want to start a cave-in with my stupidness...like I have any." She took a closer look at the triangle shaped hole in the wall that the green Methane gas was blowing out. "Wait a second, why is that hole shaped like a triangle?" From Cassie's experience, a triangle shaped hole in the wall means something is on the other side. Something that was not meant to be found for another twelve million years.

"If I find a stick and set it on fire and toss it towards the hole, then maybe I could blow up a bigger hole in the wall." She looked around her to see what she could find. As luck would have it, she found a stick on the ground. In her pocket, she still had her zippo lighter. She smiled through her shirt and walked as far away from the hole as possible and let herself feel non-lightheaded before she got down to business.

She crouched down to one knee and rubbed the tip of the stick. Her fingertips were covered in age-old dirt, which she subsequently rubbed off on her jeans before she removed the zippo from her pocket. "Even if this gas is flammable, it will not be enough to cause a cave-in. So far, that is the only good news as of now." She opens the zippo, snaps the fire on and holds it to the very tip of the stick. "Contingency plan: run like hell." She snaps the cap back on, giving off a loud clink and shoves the zippo back into her pocket. "Bombs auferat." She threw it over her shoulder without looking and squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears as the stick landed in the Methane gas vicinity. She opened her mouth at the very last second just as a loud explosion went off. "Holy crap, that was loud!" She moves her jaw from left to right, popping her bones before she opened her eyes up and looked at the explosion behind her. "Holy crap, now that's what I call an explosion. If only Derek were here to see the explosion...nah I'm pretty sure he heard it from his current location."

Cassie approached the hole and looked inside. "In the words of Rhino of the movie _Bolt,_ _this is it, the belly of the beast. The lair of the Green-Eyed Man, Methane gas version._ I love that movie."


	28. My Heart's Pumping

Cassie crawls through the now Methane gas free hole without worry. The hole seemed to lead to somewhere else. The tunnels that Cassie was taking appeared to go on in circles and Cassie would have encountered that god-awful narrow hallway where she was forced to crawl again. She would definitely not want that again. But she did not have to worry because the path she was taken seemed to lead her to a path with potential. There was was an orange colored light coming in from the end of the path and it made her eager to see what it was.

Cassie made it to the very end of the path and came into a massive room with mechanical gears and cogs all over the room. Cassie was speechless at the sight of so many cogs on the ceiling. "Man, just like in my previous adventures. Time for Medieval traps to unlock." She looked at the age-old lantern above her with fire inside. She no longer needed the flashlight as the lantern lit up the entire room. She puts her flashlight away and rubs her hands together like Miyagi from _The Karate Kid._ "Okay then, time to solve some riddles."

She walks to the farthest wall with the largest cog in the room. "Now Cassie, what do we do now?" She looked at the cogs all around her. She turned back to the largest one and put a hand on it. Somehow, nature did not manage to overgrow it. "Maybe if I turn the cog in a certain direction?" She grabs two of the cog edges and rotates the cog to the left. All the cogs to the left began rotating with the large cog, but none of the cogs on the right were. Cassie noticed this and stopped rotating.

"What's happening?" She stepped away from the large cog and followed the line of cogs on the wall. All the cogs seemed to be identical and lined up side by side so when one turns, every single one turns. "Let's see if I can find the one cock...I mean cog that is not working. Man Derek would love that joke." She kept following and following the line of cogs and planned to stop only when she saw something that may be the cause of the cogs not rotating. "Come on, where is the damn cog or cogs not working?"

"Finally," Cassie says as she finds one empty spot in the line of cogs. "Good, now all I need to do is either make a cog myself, or find the cog myself." She looked all around her to see if she could find some kind of cog. She saw not a single cog on the floor, which meant she had to look up. "Time for eyes in the skies." She groaned upon hearing herself speak. "That sounded better in my head." She narrowed her eyes to get a better view of the rocky ceiling above her. "Like playing a hawk."

Her eyes turned to two pillars that reached to the top of the ceiling. What was jammed between the two pillars at the top was a cog. Cassie's eyes un-narrowed and went wide in relief and excitement. "Hell yeah, mama found the missing cog!" Now all she had to do was find a way to climb up the pillars and retrieve the cog piece herself. While still looking up, she moves towards the pillars and calculated the approximate feet from the ground to the top. "Fifty feet, how can all of this fit inside this little pyramid?" _Not little, big._

"Guess I am going to have to climb up the hard way. Oh man, all the jokes I am cracking and I have to crack them to myself. Poor me." She looks at the pillars in front of her and checks for handholds. "It's Drake time, the Cassie version." She grabs a handhold protruding from the pillar and climbed up. She glues her feet to the wall and takes out her piton. _Time to get extremely serious._ She jams the piton into a weak spot in the wall and climbs up, hand over hand over the handholds. _Easy as pie._

Cassie removed the piton from the weak spot and continued to climb upwards. She kept the piton secured in her hand as she gripped a handhold. She tried her hardest not to look down but she was consumed by curiosity and looked at the ground. "Wow that is a long way down." She was already twenty-five feet from the ground and all the cogs looked tiny from her point of view. _Once you go up, you can't go down...actually that is self-contradictory as everything that goes up come down eventually. Why the hell do I keep talking to myself_?

Finally making it to the very top, she comes face-to-cog with the cog and secures herself before using one hand to grab the cog by the edge and pulling it downwards. She eagerly watched as the cog fell through the air and towards the ground. When it met the floor, the noise it made sounded like a loud entrance bell going off as if an intruder broke in. As soon as the noise faded into nothing, Cassie worked on climbing down, mesmerising all the handholds and footholds she used to climb up. _Be careful Cassie, be very careful Cassie okay?_

Landing on her feet like a cat as she made it to the bottom, she puts her piton away and reaches for the cog. She lifts it up and looks for the empty cog spot in the line of cogs. Carefully, she tiptoes over to the empty spot and places it on the wall very carefully, making sure that it lined up with the other cogs. Once it was secure to the wall of cogs, she rotated it as a test, making sure that all the cogs in the room were rotating with it. _Time to turn that huge cog._

She makes a beeline for the huge cog from earlier and places her hands on the edge and begins the process of rotating the cogs. She looked from left to right to make that all the cogs were working. Much to her surprise, the one on the left were not working. Not a single. _Suck my dick,_ she growls and walks along the left line of cogs. "What kind of can of worms do I have to deal with now?" Honestly, she was getting extremely tired of trying to solve this. _Why can't I just turn the cogs, why not?_

Like before, she found the one empty space between two cogs. _Wait a second, how were these cogs working earlier but when I inserted the missing cog, this one ended up gone?_ She'll have time to solve mysteries later and this time, there were no pillars for her to climb and there was no missing cog in sight. "Now how am I going to solve this very elaborate riddle of looking for a second lost cock...cog?!" She curses at herself and mentally slaps herself for saying _cock_ instead of _cog._ She face palms herself, groaning. _Oh lord oh lord._

She starts searching around the place for the lost cog and she always ended up finding nothing but dirt. Even when she searched underneath the debris, she found nothing at all. She did find a gold coin with Early Slav writing on it. _Yay, a souvenir._ She places the coin in her pocket and continues searching underneath the debris from the Methane gas explosion. She digged like a dog to unearth whatever was underneath the debris. _Wait a second, where was that Methane gas coming from?_ She looks around herself. _Where was the Methane coming from in the first place?_

It was then when she felt something underneath a large piece of debris. Her curiosity instantly gets the better of her and she yanks the object from the wreck. Much to her surprise, it was the missing cog to the puzzle. She gets to her feet and with her back bent over, she yanks the cog out of debris completely. "Holy crap! This is heavy. Crap, how did the people who build this pyramid, or people who made this trap even move this thing without a forklift?" _Possibly the same way I moved the first cog in the first place, course._

Finally lifting the cog out of the debris, she cradles it in her hands like a rather large baby and turns towards the left line of cogs. Feeling the heaviness of the cog, she asks herself, "Where's an uninjured Derek when you need him? This cog is so...daggum heavy. Wait a second why did I say that southern thing? Okay, now I sound like a racist." She mentally slaps herself. "Pay attention Cassie. Focus on nothing more but getting the cog back to where it belongs. Stop talking to yourself." She knew she could not stop self-talking to herself.

She shoves the cog back into place and tests to make sure that all the cogs rotate along. "Not out of the woods yet, still got to see if all the cogs are attached before you rotate the giant cog. Hopefully that I have all that is required...don't want to start climbing pillars again or start unearthing things through debris." When she is satisfied that all cogs appear to be in place, she pats the cog in front of her and begins walking back to the big cog. _Hopefully, this is the last part of this puzzle. I tired._

Cassie made it to the first cog that she begun with in the first place and put her hands on the edges and began rotating. She rotated and every single cog started rotating. Cassie rotated the cogs for the better half of a minute and nothing appeared to happen. "The hell? I thought something was supposed to happen." She voiced her confusion aloud. "Aren't these cogs supposed to activate something somehow?" She growls at the thought of going through hell again. "No way, there must something I am missing. Something right?" _These cogs must initiate something, but what I wonder._

"These cogs were placed here for a reason and I am determined to find out the reason." As she stopped turning, the cogs rotated back to their original position. She looked around her to see what she could find as the cogs rotated back to defaultness, and saw only one thing moving other than the cogs: the lantern above her with the fire inside. The lantern was descending from the ceiling from chains that suspended it off the ground. Then Cassie saw something odd on the lantern: there were strange symbols on the side. _The_ _lantern_ _is_ _the_ _key_ , _Course._

Cassie followed the light that followed the light that shot out the lantern and looked at the wall. She backed away from the big cog and took position underneath the lantern to see the symbol that the lantern illuminated. Cassie squinted her eyes and studied the symbol, folding her arms and rubbing her chin like a curious scientist. It was a the Sun Wheel symbol those Albanians used on their shirts. Just several feet above the orange fire-y symbol's position was a gigantic carving of the Sun Wheel symbol. "Well well well." _The First Crusade use this symbol. Definitely unexpected._

"Alright then, I guess I am supposed to line up the fire symbol up to the carving. The cogs are used to lower and ascend the lantern. I now understand yet I still don't know where that Methane gas came from." She hurries to the first cog and starts rotating so that the fire symbol lines up with the carving. It was very difficult to see, but she was relying purely on instinct. "Now let's see what this baby opens up to. I hope it's the Cold iron." The cog stuck into place, alarming Cassie. The symbol was in the right place, but the cogs were not working.

Like the rise of a curtain, the whole entire wall in front of Cassie, with the cogs, ascended into the ceiling above her. Cassie's eyes followed very carefully until the entire wall disappeared into the ceiling. Cassie's mouth was left open as she looked at the sight in front of her: a large room with all kinds of gold that decorated the ground and piles of jewelry piled against the wall. But in the center was a pedestal, with a U shaped object lying down. _My heart's pumping, the Cold iron, holy shit!_

* * *

 **Trivia**

 **In my Uncharted Universe, Cassie Drake was born six months after the events of Uncharted 4, which took place in January 2014. Elena was already three months pregnant with Cassie by the time. Derek was born during the events of Uncharted 4.**

 **Only two more chapters left. I can't believe it. In the sequel, I have already started production and this is what I can reveal: Cassie and Derek will be globetrotting the Middle East and we will also meet a character(s) who will become recurring in the stories to follow.**

 **I will update the last two stories tomorrow on June 6, I promise. Tomorrow on Cassie's birthday, the 74th anniversary of D-Day and the release date of the 180th issue of _The Walking Dead_ comics.**

 **See you in the next chapter my fellow readers and Uncharted fans. Remember, I would really appreciate it if you would give your reviews.**


	29. The Cold Iron

Cassie gazed at the beautiful horseshoe Cold iron made of bronze, yet has the color of silver. The adrenaline inside of her went through the roof and she felt as if she was going to die from a heart attack. If she was going to die from a heart attack, it would not be from a temper, but from doing something she loves. _I would love to die from pleasure, especially when I make love to Derek one day._ "Oh man, if only Derek were here to see this beautiful thing." She realized that her voice trailed off as she realized something: Derek is still at the conjunction.

She was about to turn around, until she heard something all too familiar with her: the sound of a gun being cocked. She sighs out of annoyance and turns around slowly with her arms raised. "Oh crap." she says dryly as she gazes upon a mercenary with his gun trained on her and Rowan clapping his hands dramatically. "Bravo Cassie Davis, bravo," he says dramatically. "You have discovered the Cold iron for us. Thank you so very much." He ceases clapping and puts his hands in his pocket, smiling like an idiot.

"Oh you know me. I just wished that helicopter crash killed you. The world would have been a better place with you gone Rowan. Speaking of which, what did you do to Derek?" She lowers her hands and begins grinding her teeth at the thought of Rowan have killed Derek. "You better not have killed Derek you ugly bastard, or I will smash that nut sack of a square jaw of yours right off yo face." She took a step forward and only stopped when the mercenary named Vlad raised the gun barrel to Cassie's head level. "Oh, you're going to shoot me huh? Oh really?"

"We're not going to shoot you," Rowan answered. "We may still need the bullets for when we get out of here." He looks over his shoulder while Vlad keeps his gun drawn on Cassie. "If you must know Cassie…" Rowan says as he looks away. "We did not kill Derek…" he turns back to her with a huge grin on his face. " _Yet._ Hey Rex! Will out Mister Derek Lambert for us will ya?!"

Cassie looked behind Rowan and Vlad and saw a mercenary with orange hair named Rex who dragged Derek from the entrance Cassie took and she was horrified to see that he was bleeding nearly everywhere. He had even more cuts and bruises than before and a tooth of his was knocked out his mouth. He was clutching his broken leg as he was forced forward by the mercenary named after a dinosaur. Vlad and Rowan moved to either side and allowed Rex to throw Derek towards Cassie's feet. To ensure that they would not try anything stupid, Rex aimed Derek's gun at Cassie.

Cassie immediately bent down, unworried about the three villains in front of her and held Derek's head in her lap. "Are you okay, did they hurt you? Derek man?" When he did not answer, she feared the worst. "Derek, please don't die on me. Please, I'll be lost without you!"

Derek wheezed through his breath as he inhaled deeply and sighed longingly. "I am immortal...I am not dying today or anyday." He managed to crack a warm smile to Cassie. "There were eight of them, but I mowed down five of them without trouble. I ran out of ammo before I could kill Rowan, Vlad and the T-Rex one."

Cassie massaged his temples with her index fingers. "You bought us some time at least." She took a brief glance at the villains, who watched her intently. She growled at Rowan with pure hatred in her eyes. It had become pretty obvious that Rowan allowed Vlad and Rex to torture Derek, but why she did not hear the gunshots was a mystery. She was not far away enough to have not heard them, unless he fired off when she blew up the hole in the wall. Either way, she was going to make sure that Rowan never escaped from this pyramid alive. "Hey dickwad, you said you're not going to shoot us because you don't want to waste the bullets. What plans do you have for us. Tell us what your plans are so you can be a James Bond villain of some kind. If someone is planning to kill either me or Derek, I would at least like to know how or who is killing me."

Rowan appeared to take extreme amusement in what she said. He did not view himself as a James Bond villain, but rather a businessman just trying to make money. Since he was going to kill the two thorns in his sides once and for all, he might as well toss them the bone and tell them his plans. He put a hand on Vlad's gun barrel and lowered it. Rex followed his example and lowered his gun since they were not going to use bullets to execute them. "You really want to know what I have in store for you Cassie Davis?"

"Please enlighten me."

He takes a step closer and walks towards the Cold iron slowly. "You see, before I ever sell weapons to people that people like you would call terrorists, I always test out my latest weapons on living creatures to make sure that they kill and do nothing but kill. You see, no one wants a defective product because at my black market, there are no refunds, returns or exchanges of any kind. All items are final."

Cassie noted that as Rowan walked towards the Cold iron, then Rex and Vlad were moving towards her and Derek. The quick-thinking Cassie was coming up with a plan. _Once one of the thugs get within reach, then I'll grab their guns and shoot Rowan dead and then the others._ Then she looked at the Cold iron and realized that she had to destroy to make sure that nobody ever finds it. _Looks like we're going to have to do things the hard way. I do love me doing things the hard way._

Rowan made it to the pedestal and stared at the Cold iron like some kind of exotic animal. His urge to touch was so powerful but he managed to keep both of his hands at his side. "You see, Davis and Lambert, no offense, but we are going to make test subjects out of you. We need to know how the Cold iron works before I can sell it for a couple billion dollars. This one global already promised to pay me one billion dollars if I deliver it to them by overnight mail as soon as I got my hands on it and authenticated it." He turns back to the two young treasure hunters. "You two are going to be the ones who authenticate it."

"Like hell we are," Cassie stated firmly before feeling a barrel poke into her left shoulder blade. "You're going to bring a monster from another world and into our world and use it to kill us with it? What if it attacks you, then what do you think is going to happen?"

Rowan smiled as if he already had a plan...which he did. For the first time since he gazed upon the Cold iron, he slowly moved his right hand to grip the bottom of the U shaped horseshoe. She wrapped his fingers around the Cold iron tightly and lifted it from the pedestal. He gazes at the mythological object in his hands as he feels a vibration.

He felt a surge of energy soar through him as his heartbeat increased. The Cold iron began turning from a silver color to a black color as it began to glow within his hand.

 _Oh shit, he is actually doing it! He summoning a monster!_ Initially, Cassie was not one to believe in magic and all the supernatural mumbo-jumbo, but after finding evidence of a lost city called Hawaiki on Easter Island, Derek finding a scroll that proves the Peaches of Immortality are real in Mongolia, the legendary substance called Vril being discovered by her uncle Sam in Iceland and more recently, her trip to Atlantis ruins in the Bermuda Triangle...she was now a believer of magic and she believed that the thing in Rowan's hand was magic. _I have to stop him before a demon actually does come._ She looks down at Derek, who stared at her in the eyes. Both Cassie and Derek could read lips and right now they began reading lips to each other.

Cassie looked around her and saw the mercenary named Vlad was jamming his gun into Cassie while Rex and Rowan were standing at the pedestal. The only way for them to actually take out both was for Cassie to potshot both Rowan and Rex. It was a risky move, but she mouthed her plan to Derek.

Cassie: Scream and I will shoot Rowan.

Derek: Got it.

Derek howls as if he was in pain. Vlad jumped back in in surprise before Cassie punched him in the gut, forcing him to bend forward before she grabbed his gun and forced the trigger to be pulled. As if in slow motion, the bullet travels past Rowan and Rex as they turn around to investigate and it lodges itself into the wall behind the pedestal. Cassie though that she was screwed, until she saw green smoke emit the from bullet hole in the wall. _Shit, Methane gas!_ She had little time to react before the wall blew up and incinerated Rowan, Rex and the Cold iron instantly in the huge explosion.

Derek was out of range, but he crawled away as soon as possible. Cassie and Vlad fell backwards, landing on their backs and began wrestling for the gun.

* * *

 **Finally Keenan Kip Rowan (1992-July 21, 2035) is dead. He died with the very object he desired in his hands. Sorry we did not get to see what kind of monster was about to come out of the Cold iron. I know what monster was about to come out though: a demon.**

 **I read #180 of _The Walking Dead_ , good issue I will admit. Also, remember to honor the people who gave their lives on Normandy 74 years ago.**


	30. Epilogue

**The Final Chapter You Have All Been Waiting For. Happy Birthday Cassie Drake and I Cannot Believe It Took Me 120 Days To Write This. This Is The First Fanfic That I Have Completed And Thank You All for Reading. This Adventure Is Not Over With. Nathan Drake May Be Too Old For Anymore Life And Death Adventures, But Cassie Drake's Adventure Is Only Starting. Once Again, Thank You All.**

Cassie grabbed the AK-47 rifle and smashed the barrel into Vlad's nose, breaking it upon impact. Blood leaks from his nose and he clutches it, groaning in pain. Cassie was about to aim the gun at him, but a huge rumble shook the ground below her. Derek was crawling away from both Cassie and Vlad as he felt the ground shake beneath. The three of them looked back to see the blown up wall with both Rowan and Rex's corpse splattered everywhere. The explosion not only destroyed the Cold iron, it made the entire pyramid they were staying in completely unstable and on the verge of collapsing with them inside never to be rediscovered. The three of them were terrified and they did not need words to agree to a truce. Survival was the only option now for any of them and as soon as they escaped, then they would go back to being enemies.

"Wait Vlad!" Cassie blocked Vlad's path. "Save Derek and we can all get out of here!" Vlad ignored her and pushed her to the side, but she managed to trip him off his feet in an instant. "Carry Derek or I'll shoot you in the skull!" She was so serious to the point of actually jamming the barrel into Vlad's temple. She wanted to carry Derek herself, but he was way too heavy for her to carry. Vlad looked to be strong enough to carry a wounded man on his shoulder and she was determined to get his help.

"You're not going to shoot me!" Vlad declares. "You ain't going to shoot me!"

"But I will leave you behind to die in the cave-in, now help me save Derek! Last chance!"

Vlad wanted to survive. He wanted to get home to see his family. He waves his hands in defeat and is allowed to get up and the first thing he does is move to Derek's position and helps him to his feet before carrying him on his shoulder. "Man Derek, you're heavy!"

"Come on, let's go!" Cassie urges as she helps guide Vlad to where he needs to go. She quickly retraces her steps to the location she came from and quickly remembered the hole she was forced to crawl through. Much to her greatest relief, the hole was blown open and was big enough for three or four people. _Rowan must have blown it up, but how the hell I not hear the explosion?!_

Cassie, Vlad and Derek made it back to the conjunction from earlier. They took the path and jumped over several mercenary corpses. The same mercenaries that Derek mowed down. Vlad seemed to pay no attention and was much more concerned with getting out to see his pregnant wife. _I never should have been a mercenary._

The ground shook, nearly knocking the trio off their feet, but they persevered and kept their balance.

Another thing Cassie completely forgot about was the bottomless abyss they swung across earlier. But much to her relief again, Rowan saved the day ironically. The mercenaries lacked any kind of grappling or swinging material so they used a kind of ladder that can be folded to fit in a backpack and extend to over twenty feet and has two modes for either climbing or walking; and this ladder was set to walking mode.

"Hold on, I'll go first and make sure," Cassie says before she walks very carefully across the ladder, keeping her balance for both the ladder and rumbling of the place. Just barely making it to the other side, she instructs for Vlad to carry Derek over. "Hurry up so I can take this ladder so we can climb out the hole we dropped in!"

Vlad wasted no time and began walking across the ladder. With the weight on his shoulders, it was becoming very difficult to keep his balance, and when the pyramid shook violently, he and Derek almost went falling into the abyss. Cassie's heart dropped at seeing the sight of Derek and Vlad almost falling so she uses her quick thinking to her advantage. She takes the sharp part of her grappling hook from her belt loop and tossed it to Vlad. He caught just in time before he and Derek were able to plunge into the abyss. He grabbed on with his left and hand even though he was being carried over Vlad's shoulder, Derek managed to get a grip of the rope and help Vlad keep his balance on the ladder.

Cassie used all her strength to pull them in like pulling a car with a rope. Her face was getting red and sweaty and the rope felt like it was going to slip from her hands. Her palms were getting sweaty, but the two men successfully made it across the ladder in time. Cassie was exhausted and huffing as if she ran a marathon. She coiled up her grappling hook, put it around her belt loop and bent down for the ladder. The ground shook again and the ladder slipped from it current position and fell into the bottomless abyss and vanished from sight. "Oh my God!" she shouts out of frustration.

"Oh dear lord!" Vlad shouts upon seeing the ladder go bye-bye. "What the hell are we supposed to do now? We didn't leave any rappelling ropes back at the hole we came down in?"

 _No, you guys don't have any ropes,_ she looks at her grappling hook once more. _But I have a rope._ "Follow me and we'll make it out of here!"

Cassie, and Vlad carrying Derek hurried back down the tunnels they were crossing barely managing to avoid stepping on the carved squares and not getting hit by any spiked bricks. Cassie noticed a corpse on the ground with a bloody forehead but it did not matter. _One of Rowan's mercenaries._

Finally the three of them made it back to the room they fell in and the hole in the ceiling was still open and a pinkish cloudish sky could be seen above. Vlad was all complaining as to how they were going to get out of there and Cassie told him his plan. She was going to throw the grappling hook to the very top and then they would climb out. He thought the plan was stupid and completely pathetic but he quickly subdued and urged for her to hurry.

"Me and Derek want to escape just as much as you do. Keep patient and hold onto to Derek." She grabs the hook and with a flip of the wrist, snaps it as hard as she could towards the very top of the hole. The hook made it outside the pyramid and securely hitched itself against a huge rock. Cassie tested its secureness before calling over Vlad and Derek.

"Put Derek down and he can climb first!" She ordered. Vlad did as he was told and he even helped Derek get on the rope and began using his upper body strength to climb up. "You got this D-Man!"

Vlad put his left hand on Cassie's chest and pushed her aside without even looking. He grabs the rope with his right hand and begins climbing hand over hand up the rope. She fell near one of the walls with the vines on top, landing on her side. Dust coated her right elbow, but that was the least of her concerns. She hastily gets back to her feet and crawls as fast as she could towards the rope.

Derek pulled himself out of the hole and grabbed the nearest handhold around him to avoid rolling down the still steep hill.

Vlad was only a few feet above Cassie, but she was catching up to him like nothing. She had a pretty good idea as to what was going to happen once Vlad was outside: he was going to disconnect the grappling hook from whatever was holding it and trap her in the pyramid. _Not on my watch._ She picks up the paste and was barely three feet below him when he pulled himself out of the hole. The only thing was, he was so preoccupied with getting out that he actually forgotten about the steep hill and he fell forward and rolled down the hill.

Cassie watched Vlad disappear from the hole and pulled herself out of the hole. The final rumble of the cave shook Cassie so much that she almost fell back into the hole, but Derek managed to grab her hand just in time.

"Getting a little reckless don't you think?" Derek said with humor.

"Yeah, only because the pyramid is going to collapse and my feet are still inside," Cassie shouts and pulls herself out of the hole with Derek's help.

The inside of the pyramid completely caved-in from the inside with debris and dust falling from the ceiling and filling up all the way to the hole. Cassie barely managed to move her feet out of the way in time.

Cassie felt herself fall down the hill, but Derek kept a strong grip on her while at the same time holding onto the handhold with only one hand. _Cassie, you are heavy._

Cue Uncharted Theme

Cassie had managed to retrieve her grappling hook and the two managed to climb down the still standing Pyramid of the Sun. Like before, Cassie carried Derek. When they arrived at the bottom, they found an unconscious Vlad on the ground, knocked out when his head struck against a tree. The two of them stepped over the knocked out Vlad and both decided to come back and get him once they retrieved their jeep.

Uncomfortable with silence, Cassie spoke to Derek. "That was some badass adventure. Shame we are going home empty handed."

Derek grinned at her and pulled something out of his pocket. "Look what daddy managed to grab when he was crawling away."

Cassie looked at a silver necklace with a diamond in the center. Cassie laughed and faced Derek. "You just pulled a Sully on me. Can I see it?" She held out her free hand and Derek put the necklace in Cassie's hand.

"I sure did. How much money you think the museum will give for that and what should we do with the money afterwards?"

Cassie already had an answer. "Well, once we put this in a museum where it belongs, then we do the honorable thing of giving the money to that car rental guy. We destroyed a jeep so the least we would do is pay for what we damaged."

Derek was somewhat hurt and disappointed that he was not going to get any money off of this adventure. _It was never for the money anyways,_ he comforted himself in vain. "Well, it was never about the money, it was about the adventure. The Hero's Journey."

Cassie shook her head. "We're just regular people who were trying to stop evil from dominating the world." She looked down at her shoes as she walked. "I can't wait to go on another adventure. I know that there will be all kinds of dangers, but I kinda like the dangers I face on the adventures. I'm an adrenaline junkie and I am not afraid to admit it."

Derek nodded in agreement. "Where do you want to start next with our adventure? I hear that the Staff of Moses and Aaron's Rod are just waiting to be discovered somewhere out there." (I can neither confirm nor deny if Cassie and Derek will be chasing after the Staff of Moses and/or Aaron's Rod in the sequel).

"Ha ha ha." Cassie chuckled. "As soon as we get home, I am going to tell my parents about this whole adventure."

"I'm sure they will be very, very proud of you Cassie." Derek smiled warmly at her.

Cassie nodded happily. "Yeah," she puts the necklace around her neck. "They sure will."

The End of Chapter 5

* * *

Credits

Cassandra "Cassie Davis" Drake

Derek "Lambert" Lowell

Keenan Rowan

Damian O'Brien

Gail Murphy

Jack Walsh

Grover (Mercenary #1)

Amir (Mercenary #2)

Bishop (Mercenary #3)

Rodney (Mercenary #4)

Gabe (Mercenary #5)

Baloz

Lugat

Kallikantzaros

Ora

Fatit

Merkur

Perit

Tomor

Djall

Female Passenger on Train

Vlad (Mercenary #6)

Vinny (Mercenary #7)

Jessup (Mercenary #8)

Voorhees (Mercenary #9)

Winter (Mercenary #10)

Rental Guy

Gunther (Mercenary #11)

Murat (Mercenary #12)

En

Verbti

Ljubi

Aiden (Mercenary #13)

Assan (Mercenary #14)

Manny (Mercenary #15)

Officer One

Officer Two

Rex (Mercenary #16)

Bob (Mercenary #17

Lex (Mercenary #18)

Hogarth (Mercenary #19)

Jimmy (Mercenary #20)

Antonio (Mercenary #21)

Burt (Mercenary #22)

Paul (Mercenary #23)

Nathan Drake

Elena Fisher-Drake


End file.
